You won’t find trash cans at the desks in Deloitte’s new 138,000-square-foot office at Millennium Partners’ Winthrop Center tower in Boston’s Financial District.

That’s because the professional services giant’s leaders want employees getting up and going to common receptacles for trash, recycling and composting, part of the sustainability push that led the firm to sign a lease at the new building.

Said Deloitte New England MP Rebecca Chasen, “It forces people to go out and do the right things with their trash.” First you force people back into the office and now you won’t even give them their own trash cans?

We don’t know what type of trash cans Deloitte uses so we’re just going to have to guess on this one. Trash Cans Unlimited (seems legit) sells a 30-pack of these 14 gallon plastic desk side cans for $223.86, so approximately $7.46 per can.

Times about 3,500 employees in the Boston office and that’s a savings of $26,110.

When announcing the deal via press release last summer, the developer said that Deloitte’s Winthrop Center lease was the largest office lease signed in Boston and the surrounding community up until that point in 2023. They also said:

Located in the heart of Boston, the next-generation office space features a floor plate designed for a collaborative, flexible work environment; outdoor space on every floor; and amenities geared toward enhancing the everyday experience and wellbeing of organizations’ most important assets, their people. The newly signed lease is the largest office lease signed in Boston and the surrounding community this year. Deloitte is targeting to move into its new space at Winthrop Center in fall 2024.

Trash cans not included.

The post This Deloitte Office Has Eliminated Trash Cans at Desks to Make Staff Get Up Off Their Asses appeared first on Going Concern.

The obligatory press release:

Dignari’s 300-strong workforce utilizes innovation at scale and data-driven strategies to advise US government clients. Since 2013, the company has been driving successful program implementations, designing high-impact solutions that maximize effectiveness, prototyping emerging technologies and using data science to improve performance measurement.

“We are excited about welcoming the world-class Dignari team to the EY Government & Public Sector practice,” said Doree Keating, EY Americas Government & Public Sector Leader. “We believe that blending EY US’s commitment to provide customers with mission-ready solutions and Dignari’s IAM capabilities in the homeland security space will offer a highly differentiated value proposition for our government clients.”

“For over a decade, Dignari has made a significant impact on furthering the federal government’s security mission with modern technologies,” said Gena Alexa, Dignari Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “These efforts can be scaled across local and state governments as well — and when combined with the power of the EY network will strengthen outcomes for both the public sector and the people it serves.”

Dignari salaries from Indeed if anyone’s curious.

According to the 2023 Top 100 Contractors report (the Excel sheet can be found here from SAM.gov) that lists the top 100 vendors for the US Government by dollars obligated each fiscal year, Deloitte ranks #26 with $3,711,875,824.60 obligated. Big D holds the distinction of being the only Big 4 firm on the list, ahead of Accenture at #34 but unsurprisingly behind Booz Allen Hamilton at #16. As Trump fans are currently beefing with Deloitte and calling for their government contracts to get cancelled faster than a B-list comedian tweeting on Ambien, now seems like a great time for the other firms to make big moves in what has historically been a space Deloitte dominates.

The Department of Defense is by far EY’s biggest government client according to data on USASpending.gov. For FY23, EY received $312,906,294 in DOD obligations. The next largest obligation amount is the General Services Administration (GSA) with a comparatively tiny $37,306,035.

Security powerhouse Dignari joins EY to accelerate mission enablement across the public sector [EY]

The post EY’s Growing Its Public Sector Practice With a New Acquisition appeared first on Going Concern.

According to a Deloitte survey released last week, half of full-time workers at companies with a minimum annual revenue of $100 million surveyed are “very or extremely worried that the future generation of workers may enter the workforce without sufficient interpersonal and business skills.” Yeah, that’s already happening. See also: Big 4 Firms Are Noticing a Sudden Skills Gap in New Hires and ‘Lockdown-Damaged’ New Hires Struggle to Socialize at KPMG UK. All this time we thought the art of water cooler chitchat was a useless skill but instead it’s a dying one.

Many of those surveyed feel their employers focus too heavily on technical training and not nearly enough — or even at all — on human skills.

Said Deloitte:

In a workforce increasingly leveraging both humans and machines, human capabilities play an essential role in career development, according to nearly 9 in 10 respondents across generations. Concurrently, respondents want their employers to prioritize a myriad of human skills, but teamwork and collaboration ranked at the top (65%), followed by communication (61%) and leadership (56%) more than technical skills like AI integration and data analysis (54%).

Employers: “Best I can do is a mandatory online learning session about ChatGPT prompting.”

Above all, respondents believe these human competencies have staying power. Nearly all surveyed (95%) agree human skills are “timeless” and always important. Yet, 70% of respondents report having worked at a company that pushed employees to learn a new technology-based skillset, only for that technology to fall out of use.

Some more key findings:

• 87% of workers see human skills like adaptability, leadership, and communications as integral to their career advancement.
• Only 52% think their company values employees with human skills more than those with technical skills.
• 94% of respondents are concerned that future generations will enter the workforce without the necessary human skills.
• Workers want their employers to prioritize teamwork and collaboration (65%), communication (61%), and leadership skills (56%) more than technical skills like AI integration and data analysis (54%).

And finally, a pretty picture putting it all together. Deloitte made this a PDF for some reason, sorry.

Most Workers See Need for Greater Balance Between Tech and Human Skills: Deloitte Survey [Deloitte]

The post Deloitte Survey: Machines Are Taking Over; Employees to Become Even More Awkward and Uncollaborative appeared first on Going Concern.

We’re also hearing scattered reports of layoffs at Deloitte US which…what? Evidently they forgot to put some names on the list when they first did this back in August. The good news is some of you will be free to trick or treat with your kiddos next week I guess. Someone should go as a Business Update meeting, that’s about as scary as it gets.

Doesn’t it feel like they’ve been saying consulting work has been slow for a suspiciously long time now? Just going to leave this here.

Comment
byu/AngelaNoelMartin from discussion
indeloitte

Deloitte axes 250 UK employees in performance-related cull [FT]

The post Layoff Watch ’24: Deloitte UK Cuts Another 250 People appeared first on Going Concern.

To our knowledge, no photos of a mustachioed Joe Echevarria circa 1980 are floating around the internet so you’ll have to use your imagination with this horribly dated commercial.

That story comes from a 2013 Fortune interview in which the Bronx born-and-raised Echevarria reveals he had “rough edges” and desperately needed to acclimate to the polished culture of Big 8 (as we know, that’s now down to 4) if he was going to go the distance:

I had a big mustache and bad hair. Also, I had two suits, one brown and the other green polyester. I had no social graces, either — I didn’t know where the bread plate goes on a table, had never drunk coffee out of a cup with a saucer. It took me a long time to realize that these things matter in the corporate world. No one was willing to tell me.

Until a boss — who he refers to as “mom” in the interview — set him straight:

I had a boss, a Hispanic woman, who gave me good advice. Right before I left on vacation, she said to me, “You’re coming back without that mustache. You will never make it into management if you look like the Frito Bandito.” I had never realized that was holding me back.

In that same interview, he also calls his alma mater the University of Miami “a not-so-great school” (“it was nicknamed Suntan U.”) but they must not have been too pissed about that because they just named him actual president and no longer just an acting one. He’s the seventh president of UM and the first alumnus (’78) to hold that title.

Prior to this he served on the UM Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2019 and became Chief Executive Officer of UHealth in 2020 followed by CEO of the whole university two years later.

Nobody bleeds orange and green like Joe Echevarria!!

Congratulations on being named the seventh president of the @univmiami! pic.twitter.com/m2xUoejqaR

— Miami Hurricanes (@MiamiHurricanes) October 18, 2024

Reaction to the news on social media seems mostly positive except these people in r/professor griping about “how corporate universities have become.”

Joe Echevarria named seventh president of the University of Miami
byu/TheProfessorO inProfessors

Fans of Miami Hurricanes football seem particularly pleased with the appointment.

“Excellence, continuous improvement, and impact are more than shorthand for rising to our immense potential. Those words remind us that unless we are giving our very best—in academics, in research, in patient care, and in athletics—we are not worthy of ‘The U.’”

— Joe Echevarria pic.twitter.com/BoyDsUiapF

— GO ‘CANES! (@83_87_89_91_01) October 21, 2024

“[Coach Mario Cristobal] is the right person at the right time.”

— President Joe Echevarria pic.twitter.com/cP66cquQ7D

— GO ‘CANES! (@83_87_89_91_01) October 20, 2024

What better time then after a win to welcome our new @univmiami president?

Thanks for being right there with us for our victory against Louisville, President Joe Echevarria! #GoCanes pic.twitter.com/v0lwTYqyI0

— Miami Hurricanes Football (@CanesFootball) October 20, 2024

It’s been ten years since Joe surprised everyone by dipping out of Deloitte at the end of his first term as CEO despite not having reached mandatory retirement age. Joe said he left so he could focus on his “passion for public service” but some people floated the idea that he wouldn’t have been able to secure re-election had he stayed. Whatever the reason, seems he’s doing just fine these days.

For those who weren’t around back in those days, please enjoy this small selection of Joe Echevarria lore:

• Unfounded Crackpot Theory of the Day: Did Joe Echevarria Want to Stick It To Deloitte?
• Joe Echevarria Was a Hipster Before It Was Cool
• Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria Doesn’t Want to Hear About the Troubles You’ve Had Selling Your House
• We Read This Awful Interview with Deloitte’s Joe Echevarria So You Don’t Have To

The post It’s a Good Thing Ex-Deloitte CEO Joe Echevarria Already Had Green in His Blood appeared first on Going Concern.

“Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism (excepting a disjointed China policy),” Vance wrote in February 2020.

“I think Trump will probably lose,” he wrote in a message in June 2020, a few months before ballots were cast in an election that Vance would later claim, falsely and repeatedly, was stolen by the Democrats.

It’s no secret JD Vance used to be a Trump critic. In 2022, Vance’s former roommate Josh McLaurin (now a Georgia state senator) shared Facebook DMs from Vance he received in 2016 that said, among other things, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”

Although WaPo chose not to name the recipient of the 2020 DMs leaked to them due to the potential for retaliation, Breitbart was more than happy to do so in the spirit of such. In “Exclusive — Deloitte Consultant Behind Ethically Questionable Leak of JD Vance Communications to Washington Post,” Breitbart reveals the leaker to be Deloitte principal Kevin Gallagher:

But what the Post did not do is tell its audience who Vance was communicating with in these messages, or provide the full context of the conversation, since it only reported part of one side of it. The Post argued it granted the source who provided these messages anonymity “because of concerns about retaliation,” but Breitbart News can reveal the person’s identity here for the first time as a well-connected Deloitte consultant.

Oh no, here it comes.

The Deloitte consultant, whose identity the Washington Post’s Peter Jamison hid from the newspaper’s readers, is named Kevin Gallagher. Deloitte’s website lists Gallagher as a “principal” with the firm, based in Connecticut. Breitbart News has seen a screenshot of messages that Vance sent to Gallagher—the other side of the conversation is not available, because Gallagher had deleted his account, thereby deleting the messages—confirming that Gallagher is in fact the recipient of these.

That same day, Donald Trump Jr. accused Gallagher — who has since gone into internet hiding — of interfering in the election and asked if it’s time for the GOP to “end Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train.”

An executive at @Deloitte named Kevin Gallagher decided to interfere in the election & leak private convos with JD Vance to help Kamala Harris. Deloitte also gets $2B in govt contracts. Maybe it's time for the GOP to end Deloitte's taxpayer funded gravy train?

CC @speakerjohnson pic.twitter.com/gAOs1TBt86

— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 27, 2024

Conservative newsletter Amuse echoed this sentiment in a long-ass tweet:

The sheer audacity of Gallagher’s interference would be appalling on its own, but it is especially outrageous when considering his position at Deloitte—a firm that has raked in billions in government contracts. Over $2 billion, in fact, has flowed into Deloitte’s coffers from taxpayer-funded projects. Why, then, are we allowing such an entity, whose executives play politics for personal gain, to enjoy the spoils of government largesse? Deloitte has been cashing checks courtesy of American taxpayers while its leadership engages in partisan warfare. The GOP must recognize this glaring conflict and take swift action to curtail Deloitte’s access to federal contracts.

Not to ackshually here but ackshually, Deloitte plays both sides because what they value above all else is revenue. Here’s some data from government transparency group OpenSecrets. Remember they’re tracking individual donations among these.

LOL at the 77.45% to Republicans in 2002, the year Sarbanes-Oxley rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Arthur Andersen’s literal tons of shredded documents. Surely unrelated.

Here’s a breakdown by affiliate for the 2024 election cycle (a.k.a. the nightmare in which we are currently residing):

Lastly, recipient data from the 2024 election cycle. What this says is that individuals associated with Deloitte are throwing more money at Kamala Harris than Donald Trump. What it doesn’t say is that Deloitte endorses Kamala Harris. They’re gonna quietly endorse whoever is going to allow them to make the most money, which is probably why Kevin Gallagher is not getting invited to happy hour any time soon because this kind of heat is bad for business.

Wrote WaPo’s Peter Jamison in a follow-up article:

On Sept. 27, Donald Trump Jr. exposed the employee’s name and photograph to millions of people on social media, writing, “Maybe it’s time for the GOP to end Deloitte’s taxpayer funded gravy train?” Others — including Vance’s chief spokesman and a Republican senator — circulated Trump Jr.’s comments, and the conservative website Breitbart published a story naming the man and highlighting his job.

Deloitte receives about $3 billion annually from federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense.

Ethics experts said the episode is a potentially ominous preview of how a second Trump administration might use the enormous power the federal government wields over private industry to punish political acts by individual workers. Although federal contracting laws prohibit cutting off a business because of its workers’ private political views, such threats could have a chilling effect, they said.

Added Jamison:

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Kedric Payne, senior director of ethics at the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center and former deputy chief counsel in the Office of Congressional Ethics, adding that the goal was probably to pressure Deloitte into firing the worker. “You can’t imagine that if one employee out of thousands made a statement that offended an official, that then the government contracts would be in jeopardy.”

Yeah, they’re probably not. The #boycottdeloitte hashtag is pretty quiet all things considered.

“This individual shared private personal messages on his own volition without the knowledge of Deloitte, which is a non-partisan firm,” Deloitte told WaPo in a statement. “Deloitte is deeply committed to supporting our government and commercial clients and we have a long track record of doing so across parties and administrations.”

Comments are open, don’t make us regret it. Behave like the educated adult professionals you are please and thank you.

The post Here’s Why Trump Fans Are Mad at Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte has added Greenhouse #6 to its stable of Greenhouses across the US in San Francisco, New York, Washington, Houston, Deloitte University in Westlake, TX, and now Chicago.

What are Greenhouses? “Deloitte Greenhouses are cutting-edge physical spaces located around the world designed to help clients tackle their complex problems,” says Deloitte. That’s not really helpful is it?

Digging deeper, we find Deloitte uses scent to “enhance group productivity” at corporate Greenhouse sessions. Not making this up. Here’s what they say:

Quick, which is your most powerful sense? It isn’t sight. It isn’t sound. It’s smell!

Your sense of smell is more than a million times more sensitive. And as many people know, scent has a powerful effect on our emotions, memory recall, and state of mind.

Many innovative workplace designs expend most of their effort on sight and sound [Ed. note: the CIA is a fan of this too], but often forget about scent. Did someone think we were motivated by the smell of office carpet and printer toner? It’s time to give the olfactory nerve some respect.

Ah, this explains why you have trouble getting work done at home when your cat just dropped a fat log in the next room.

When participants come to The Deloitte Greenhouse® space to solve complex problems, we consider the multi-sensory experience that can impact a participant’s cognition, physiology, and behavior—all critical in promoting disruptive thinking and productive action. And as part of that, each dedicated Deloitte Greenhouse® space draws upon the science of scent to help Lab participants shift mindsets, accelerate breakthroughs, and confound expectations.

Our experience designers call it “holistic sensory activation.” You may just think “hmm, that smells nice.” These elements are just another tool that helps you and your colleagues work together in ways that will blow away your previous workshop experiences. When you visit a Deloitte Greenhouse® space, you’ll know from the moment you walk in–innovation is in the air.

Smells like the refreshing aroma of cash in Deloitte’s pocket.

If anyone’s interested, they’re hiring Lab Leads, Lab Managers and Lab Producers. Relevant Fishbowl discussion.

Earlier:

The post Deloitte Unveils Its Chicago Trip Cave appeared first on Going Concern.

When she left the Green Dot at the end of FY19, Engelbert made the transition to commissioner of the WNBA where she remains to this day, taking flak from fans for being too businesslike and speaking in PR. Those years of Deloitte training are really paying off for her. At the same time, the WNBA is stronger than ever with 2024 its most-watched regular season in 24 years, game attendance at 22-year highs, and merchandise sales up 601% from 2023.

With WNBA playoffs underway, Fortune decided to see what she’s up to and asked what her average day looks like.

8:30 a.m.: Engelbert arrives at the office, often a bit earlier than her colleagues. After spending the majority of her career in the corporate world, Engelbert says she had to adjust when she entered the sports industry.

“You got in really early when you were in the corporate world, you were trying to beat the traffic that commute and you had meetings, sports, because there’s so many games and so many things that night and weekends,” Engelbert said.

“My first day, I got in at 7:30, but no one else arrived until about nine,” she said. “Now I aim to get in around 8:30 or 9.”

Oh and she still practices SMOR, a recharging technique she learned in her public accounting days. “I learned this at Deloitte because when you’re running a firm of that size, you have to find time,” she told TIME in 2022. “We dubbed them smors. My EA used to put them on my calendar: Small moments of recovery. You need moments during the day.”

Yep, still taking those small moments of recovery and still under the same acronym.

12 p.m.: Engelbert adheres to a time-saving regime she refers to as “SMORE,” an acronym for “small moments of recovery.” She adds these to her calendar, seeing lunch as a networking opportunity or a chance to take a break and get outside.

“Usually over the lunch hour, I need to get out. If I’m working from home, I go for a walk and then have lunch when I get back,” she said.

Good reminder to all of us to go get a little sun on our cheeks in the middle of the work day. Especially now that daylight is quickly slipping away.

From Deloitte CEO to WNBA commissioner: Inside Cathy Engelbert’s daily routine [Fortune]

The post Five Years After Leaving Deloitte, Cathy Engelbert is Still the First Person in the Office in the Morning appeared first on Going Concern.

TLDR: Big D partners won this round by quite a bit.

Woe Be Unto PwC UK Partners

PwC UK partners pocketed £862,000 on average for the year ended June 30, 2024 — that works out to more than $1.14 million in freedom units. This is down from £906,000 in 2023 and way down from 2022’s record of £1 million, the latter having been boosted by the sale of PwC’s Global Mobility Tax and Immigration Services business. Total revenue at PwC UK was £6.3 billion ($8.4 billion USD) for 2024, heavily bolstered by 26% growth in the Middle East business while the UK business trudged along at 3% growth overall.

Revenue totals for PwC UK:

Now Let’s See Why They’re Called Big D

Deloitte didn’t have a spectacular year either yet its partners still took home an average of £1.01 million for the year ended May 31. Revenue results released this week show an increase of 2.4% to £5.7 billion ($7.6 billion USD). So they made less than PwC without a Middle East of their own to carry them and partner pay dropped by 5% but still beat PwC in partner take.

Consulting revenues contracted by 1% from £1.6 billion in FY23 to £1.58 billion in FY24 and Financial Advisory “faced a challenging market” to come out at £653 million in FY24 (down from £669m in FY23).

Deloitte didn’t whip up a snazzy autumnal-colored chart for their revenue results, just this screenshot of a table in what we assume is Word.

Since September of 2023, Deloitte has laid off nearly 1,000 people (that we’re aware of). Said the firm in their revenue announcement:

In response to a challenging market we had to take the difficult decision of making a number of targeted redundancies early in the year. However, we have continued to hire in areas of growth, with 3,387 new colleagues, including 2,150 graduates, apprentices and interns joining the firm. 6,800 of our 27,000 people were promoted this year – 80 of them to partner.

As of June 2024, the number of partners at Deloitte UK is 1,369, 30% of whom are women.

More:

• PwC UK partner pay falls to £862,000 as growth slows [FT]
• Deloitte UK partners pocket £1mn despite slowdown [FT]

The post Pissing Match of the Day: Deloitte vs. PwC Partner Pay appeared first on Going Concern.

SecurityWeek reports:

The hacker known as IntelBroker announced late last week on the BreachForums cybercrime forum the availability of “internal communications” obtained from Deloitte, specifically an internet-exposed Apache Solr server that was accessible with default credentials.

The hacker claims the stolen data includes email addresses, communications between intranet users, and internal settings.

The data is available for download to the hacking forum’s active users or those who have purchased credits.

Cyber Security News has a screenshot of the forum post, a forum we won’t be visiting tyvm.

According to CSN, the compromised data includes email addresses and communications between intranet users, among other things. Deloitte told SecurityWeek an internal investigation “has found no threat to client data or other sensitive data related to this incident.”

A quick search of our archive reveals a few prior hacking incidents for Deloitte:

• Deloitte Tries To Play It Cool After Cyberattack
• Sony Hack Also Leaked Deloitte Salaries, Reveals Gender Gap*

The latter incident wasn’t Deloitte’s fault, to be fair. Sony got breached hard in 2014 and an ex-Deloitte employee who worked for Sony HR at the time just happened to have a spreadsheet with the 2005 salaries of 31,124 Deloitte employees. The sheet also contained race and gender data.

Just going to leave this here for Deloitte to pursue at their leisure.

The post Hackers Say They Got Their Hands on Deloitte Intranet Communications appeared first on Going Concern.

The total reported aggregate global revenue (unaudited): $67.2 billion for the fiscal year ending May 31, 2024. That’s a 3.1% increase in local currency (3.6% increase in USD) from FY2023. By comparison, the jump from 2022 to 2023 was a 14.9% increase; revenue growth from 2021 to 2022 was a staggering 19.6%. from Deloitte’s 2022 revenue, not quite as big a jump as the 19.6% increase between 2021 ($50.2 billion) and 2022 ($59.3 billion). It was only a few revenue announcements ago that Deloitte became the first Big 4 firm in history to break $50 billion in global revenue.

• 2024: $67.2 billion
• 2023: $64.9 billion
• 2022: $59.3 billion
• 2021: $50.2 billion
• 2020: $47.6 billion

“In a complex global environment over the past year, Deloitte successfully sustained a growth trajectory while investing heavily in the next generation of capabilities aligned to emerging areas of client demand,” says Joe Ucuzoglu, Deloitte Global CEO. “Our unrivaled breadth of capabilities spanning advanced technologies, sector depth, and expertise in critical business functions, positions Deloitte uniquely to help clients, markets, and society at large maximize the value of tech-driven transformation.”

Scrolling through the press release to figure out what information needs to be passed along to dear reader we got the idea to plug this thing into a word counter. Supposedly it’s “only” 2,718 words. Feels like five times that.

Growth — or shrink — by service line (in local currency):

• Tax & Legal: 8.7%
• Audit and Assurance: 4.1%
• Risk Advisory: 3.2%
• Consulting: 1.9% (ouch)
• Financial Advisory: -3.8% (double ouch)

There’s nothing else of value in this press release unless you enjoy the text version of those obscure videos of some guy trying to get his mouth around his own junk.

PwC or EY should be next to report revenue results, we’re going to guess it’s PwC since they just kicked off a round of layoffs.

Deloitte reports FY2024 revenue [Deloitte]

The post Deloitte’s Bringing a Small D to Revenue Season This Year appeared first on Going Concern.

The post Can Anyone Help This Eager Applicant Figure Out Why They Can’t Get an Interview at Deloitte? appeared first on Going Concern.

The someone added:

Just remember that Deloitte employees are never “let go” from their jobs, they are rightsized to align with the firm’s strategic objectives in light of economic uncertainty and sector level trends

Well, apparently a lot of people in audit are being rightsized this week.

Exhibit A: Plot twist, I’m ALSO being laid off.

After getting no real work done today, completely consumed by today’s events i.e. everyone around me being laid off… I also received my business update email to the shock, not only of myself, but of my team. I know you’ll all be in the comments asking, so let’s get that out of the way, I’m an audit senior, west region.

So my staff and I were laid off, it honestly feels like a mistake. There will be no one left on my team except for my manager and above, I feel a little sorry for them too. We had deadlines coming up.

I know the people around the office will try and make sense of this all, “they must’ve been a low performer” or “they must’ve missed too many time sheets.” Etc…

For the record, I was rated strongly agree on my last snapshot for both metrics. I was explicitly told this. I had made strong relationships with my team and the client. I was leading the engagement. I was doing well and my managers made that known. I hadn’t missed a time sheet this year, although I think I missed 2 last year so maybe that’s what did me in lol. Maybe it was some compliance thing that I missed last year? Who knows? They’ll chalk it up to market conditions. And no, I don’t have my cpa, even people with cpa were being laid off today/tomorrow.

TLDR: I received the “business update meeting” invite and spoiler the update is that I no longer work here anymore.

Another: Got laid off. It’s not performance related. It’s related to low business. I kind of already knew but it still stings

We don’t have much info other than a few Reddit posts, will see what more we can dig up and let you know. We don’t anticipate Deloitte will be making a public announcement but perhaps with enough stink they’ll feel forced to (spoiler: they won’t). It sounds like the numbers will be significant when all’s said and done. Wasn’t AI supposed to prevent a bloodbath like this?

Let us know if you were affected by this round of cuts and/or have more info by text or email.

The post Layoff Watch ’24: Deloitte’s Busy Scaring People with Business Update Meetings appeared first on Going Concern.

CPA Journal has published an intriguing deep dive into Big 4 revenue, specifically how the firms started making more money in advisory than audit or tax in the last 10+ years. You should go read it if this is at all interesting to you but we’re just going to focus on two charts because the Going Concern audience, and its editorial team, have the attention span of squirrels that got into a case of Red Bull.

Covered in the article are several events over this 23-year period that put upward or downward pressure on Big 4 revenue, things like the collapse of Arthur Andersen dumping all those clients on other firms, Sarbanes Oxley, the 2008 financial crisis, and PCAOB paper-pushing.

Writes The CPJ:

Over this period, audit revenue declined while advisory service revenue increased. Overall, the revenues of the Big Four have increased from $28 billion (2000) to $79 billion (2022); this represents a 183% increase over 23 years. The increase in overall revenue was interrupted by a decrease in total revenues from 2004 to 2006, during which time the firms (except for Deloitte) sold off their advisory service practices. The 2008 financial crisis contributed to the leveling off of revenues from 2009 to 2010. Contributions to revenue from advisory services were the lowest (14%) in 2005, while assurance and tax services were 62% and 24%, respectively. This sharply contrasts with 2022, when advisory service revenues were 51%, and assurance and tax service revenues were 27% and 22%, respectively.

And now, Exhibit 2.

Exhibit 2 shows that Big Four advisory service revenues grew from $11 billion (2000) to $40 billion (2022); this represents a 274% increase over 23 years. Revenue from advisory services was temporarily constrained by the enactment of SOX, which prohibited auditors from providing advisory service to assurance clients. In response, the Big Four sold off their advisory service practices one by one, except for Deloitte, which did not do so due to market conditions. Deloitte’s failure to divest may have provided an example of how advisory services may be sold to non-audit clients without violating SOX. Therefore, as the non-compete agreements with their former advisory arms expired, the other three firms began to replicate the success of the Deloitte business model. Advisory service revenue doubled from 2010 to 2015 and has continued to increase rapidly since then, leading to a concern about the impact of advisory services on public accounting firms (Alyssa Schukar, “Big Four Accounting Firms Come Under Regulator’s Scrutiny,” Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2022). Since 2014, total advisory revenues have exceeded total assurance revenues for the Big Four by 50% or more and growing. Deloitte is the clear leader in advisory revenue, followed by PwC, EY, and KPMG.

Here’s a link to that WSJ article should you care to peruse it.

During the period analyzed, cumulative assurance revenues at Big 4 firms doubled — from $11 billion in 2000 to more than $21 billion in 2022 — and tax went from $7 billion in 2000 to $18 billion in 2022, an increase of 168%.

They go on to analyze the individual firms’ revenue by service line, go check it out if you want.

The post Who Wants to See How Much Big 4 Revenue by Service Line Has Changed Since SOX? appeared first on Going Concern.

Find something here to criticize, I dare you. Even the track they picked for this quick video tour is a banger.

This link from Architizer has a lot more info thanks to lead architect Dubuisson Architecture submitting tons of pics and tells you exactly what products were used where if you want to replicate the look at home because who wouldn’t. A few highlights:

The journey to the new campus started in 2016 when Deloitte chose this region out of 88 potential locations. A bit more background from the English version of the press release:

The location was selected against a range of sustainability, transportation, and accessibility criteria, as well as its proximity to the French capital. The facility meets high sustainability standards, notably through the use of sustainable materials and renewable
energy, as well as the installation of water and green spaces to promote biodiversity across the site. Built in BaillyRomainvilliers and in Magny-le-hongre, Seine-et-Marne, Deloitte University EMEA stands out as a large-scale and innovative project within an urban and economic hub.

The old DU EMEA joint was in Belgium and, well, sad compared to the new one:

And here I found one of the rejected designs for the new campus. Macfarlane+Associates envisioned “an educative orchard, a growing kitchen, sports pitches and various ecological habitats – meadows, woodland, lake, rain water gardens and swales with trails weaving through the different habitats” and said the circular design “was based on Deloitte University’s ethos of continuous learning and self-improvement, using circular geometries that represent movement, orbiting and reflection.”

Deloitte’s sure come a long way from breaking ground on the first DU in Westlake, Texas 15 years ago. Now we just have to ask…do they eat brisket in France?

The post Deloitte Ups Its Brainwashing Game in Europe and It’s Beautiful appeared first on Going Concern.

Only 43% of workers say their organizations have left them better off than when they started.

Well-being isn’t doing so well either. Not for workers and not for their managers and leaders:

For the third year in a row, some people reported that they’re still struggling with their well-being. Just 56% of workers feel their overall well-being is “excellent” or “good.” In fact, workforce well-being remains relatively unchanged since we first began surveying workers in 2022, suggesting that most organizations may not have figured out a way to move the needle on this yet.

Leaders aren’t immune to well-being challenges either. At least four out of 10 workers, managers, and executives say they “always” or “often” feel exhausted or stressed. The situation is so bad that 59% of workers, 66% of managers, and 71% of the C-suite say they’d seriously consider taking a job with another company that would support their well-being.

The theme of the survey is “human sustainability” but what even does that mean? It’s a fancy phrase for not treating people like shit. Explains Deloitte:

Leaders may wonder whether a focus on human sustainability is what’s best for their business. Facing growing stakeholder pressures, dwindling worker health, and other workforce-related risks, our survey found that shifting from a mindset that centers on extracting value from people toward an approach that focuses on helping humans thrive is a leading course of action.

The irony of Deloitte writing this is not lost on us. Clearly it is on them.

Here’s another fun section. Deloitte has mapped out the difference between leadership and worker views on a few factors like workloads, bringing your whole self to work, fairness, flexibility, and autonomy. Although 71 percent of the C-suite is ready to GTFO to a more well-being conscious company because they’re so stressed, for some reason almost 90 percent of them think their workers’ workloads are always or often reasonable.

They also think they’re doing great on the human sustainability front (they aren’t).

Here we see a figure that shows more disparity between the perceptions of the C-suite and the actual experience of workers. Note the 22 percent of workers who rank their financial well-being as poor or very poor (literally).

Said Deloitte, again with a complete lack of awareness:

For executives, these disconnects should signal that it’s time for a change. It’s important for leaders to develop a more accurate picture of how workers are really doing if they want to move human sustainability efforts forward. Leaders should involve workers to help identify their needs and values, how they perceive their current experience at work, and how human outcomes can be pursued together. Furthermore, they should engage not only their own team members, but also future workers, community members, and other members of the organization’s human ecosystem.

Worker surveys, forums, interviews, or focus groups, are all good options for helping leaders understand the big picture around how their workers are faring. Otherwise, absent any impetus for change, organizations may elect not to take any action around advancing human sustainability.

Ah yes, those notoriously accurate worker surveys in which people are eager to share their true views and not at all afraid of retaliation.

Read more: The important role of leaders in advancing human sustainability [Deloitte]

Related surveys:

The post Deloitte Survey: Management Thinks Everyone Is Doing Way Better Than They Actually Are appeared first on Going Concern.

Said the press release:

End Point’s team is one of the premier implementers of EpiTrax, an open-source platform for collecting, organizing and maintaining epidemiological data. Together with Deloitte’s GovConnect digital assets, they will help enable public health agencies to better identify, investigate and mitigate communicable diseases, environmental hazards, and bioterrorism events, while fortifying their emergency response efforts.

End Point is the developer behind CasePointer. As part of the deal, Deloitte is getting End Point’s former chief technical officer Jon Jensen who is quoted as saying, “Since 2008, End Point’s CasePointer business has worked with open-source public health software to modernize tools, automate processes, improve the user experience, and provide better return on investment to state and local public health agencies for their disease surveillance and epidemiologic needs. We are excited to work with Deloitte’s team of professionals and serve their broad client base. Together, we expect to make an even greater impact for government health organizations.” They’re your team now, buddy.

The press release goes on to fluff Deloitte’s public health business with the usual quotes, we can skip that.

Deloitte Bolsters its Public Health Transformation Capabilities With Acquisition of End Point’s Industry-Leading Disease Surveillance Business [PR Newswire]

The post Deloitte’s Growing Its Disease Business appeared first on Going Concern.

He may be CEO now but unlike some naturally talented, born-to-lead handshakers, he didn’t get there right away. Before finally ascending to the highest rung on the ladder, he didn’t make partner (twice!) and came in second in his first race to be CEO. He got there eventually, obviously.

On the most helpful career feedback he’s received, here’s what he said:

It’s interesting. You usually get this feedback when you fail, “just keep doing what you’re doing, you’re doing a good job.”

Now that is BS feedback because every human always needs to improve.

I need to keep growing and learning as a CEO every single day in my role. So if someone tells you that you’re doing fine, and you don’t need to do anything else, that is the worst possible piece of feedback and advice you can ever get.

You should be asking, “what else can I do?” As I said to you before, “how am I perceived?”

The second year I failed to make partner, I kept asking why, why, why, why? And eventually, I got that feedback, “you are perceived as a larrikin, as a lad, you have the gravitas.” And then we started to talk about feedback. “Okay, what can I do to change that perception?” And that feedback I could use, and I could apply for the rest of my career.

Yeah, we’re gonna have to Google that.

Larrikin is an Australian English term meaning “a mischievous young person, an uncultivated, rowdy but good-hearted person“, or “a person who acts with apparent disregard for social or political conventions“.

It used to mean “a lout, hoodlum, or hooligan.” Further reading from this century: Q&A: The origin of “larrikin”

Anyway, seems ol’ Adam took that advice to heart and changed not who he is as a person — “I’m still a larrikin. You can’t take that out of someone,” he told AFR — but how he is perceived. When it comes down to it, that’s all that matters in professional services after all. His colleagues at PwC know all about that.

Adam Powick failed to make partner twice. Now he runs Deloitte [Financial Review]

The post Mischievous Deloitte Partner on Why ‘Keep Doing What You’re Doing’ Is the Worst Career Advice appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte Digital, in partnership with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), has produced a video to get everyone excited about the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris and remind us why Deloitte was chosen to be Flavor Flav to the IOC’s Public Enemy. GET HYPED.

Highlighted in the video are Sarah Attar, Saudi Arabia’s first female Olympic athlete; Natalie Du Toit of South Africa, the first amputee to compete in Olympic swimming; Abdellatif Baka, a visually impaired Paralympian runner from Algeria who won gold in Rio in 2016 and holds the distinction of being the first Paralympian to beat the winning time of an Olympian in the same event (also it’s his birthday today so happy birthday, guy); and Rose Nathike Lokonyen, a track and field athlete originally from South Sudan who competed in Rio on the Refugee Olympic Team, a first for the Olympics. Her family fled South Sudan when she was just ten and she was discovered at a refugee camp. No joke:

The International Olympic Committee and Tegla Loroupe Foundation held races inside refugee camps as tryouts for possible participation in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Lokonyen first tried out, while running barefoot, at the 5,000 meter distance and won her race, allowing her advance to Ngong. She continued to train alongside other Olympic hopeful refugees in Ngong before being notified via a livestream from Geneva, Switzerland that she had been chosen to compete.

She was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to compete for the Refugee Olympic Team in the women’s 800 m at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Refugee Olympic Team was the first in Olympic history. Lokonyen was one of five athletes on the refugee team born in South Sudan and was the team’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony. Nathinke finished seventh in her first round heat with a time of 2:16.64. She did not advance.

Additional reading: The Olympic Refugee Team Was Created to Offer Hope. Some Athletes Are Running Away From It in TIME.

The full First Effect campaign has many more firsts, we’d tell you what they are in detail but Deloitte is really weird about cookies so you’ll just have to check it out yourself:

I’d rather not, thanks.

But let’s not forget about the most important first of all, holding eight years in a row of gold medals in Big 4 global revenue.

Earlier:

The post Deloitte’s New Olympics Campaign Inadvertently Reminds Everyone They’re First in Revenue appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte’s Women @ Work report shows stagnating progress in and outside the workplace for women

Your report takeaways from the survey of 5,000 women in 10 countries (Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States) are:

• Half of women say their stress levels have increased since last year, and despite some progress, they are still not receiving adequate mental health support in the workplace
• Women’s disproportionate share of domestic responsibilities, including a sharp rise in those caring for another adult, is taking a toll on their careers and mental health
• Nearly half of women are concerned about their personal safety at work or while traveling to or for work
• Many women who experience challenges related to menstrual disorders, fertility, and even more so for menopause, feel unable to seek support or take time off from work
• Experiences with hybrid work are improving, but some women say they have made adjustments to their work and personal lives following return-to-office policies

“Despite a small number of improvements since last year, our survey tells us that women are facing mounting pressures in the workplace, their personal lives, and in their communities,” says Emma Codd, Global Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, Deloitte. “Globally, women feel their rights are backsliding, they are experiencing increased stress and taking on the majority of household tasks at home. Alongside this they are experiencing non-inclusive behaviors at work, are concerned for their safety and feel unable to disclose when they are experiencing women’s health challenges. This is a situation that must change—and employers must enable this.”

Because Going Concern is a publication for accounting professionals, allow us to call special attention to this section.

Stress and long working hours take an increased toll on women’s mental health

Half of women say their stress levels are higher than they were a year ago and a similar number say they’re concerned or very concerned about their mental health. Mental health is a top three concern for women globally (48%), falling behind only their financial security (51%) and rights (50%).

There are a number of potential factors behind declining mental health levels, but among them is an inability to disconnect from work. The survey findings show a link between working hours and mental health: While half of women who typically just work their contracted hours describe their mental health as good, this declines to 23% for those who regularly work extra hours. Only 37% of women say they feel able to switch off from their work.

Despite these concerning findings, more than half of women say they aren’t receiving adequate mental health support from employers, and two-thirds of women don’t feel comfortable talking about their mental health in the workplace. Though this highlights a need for significant improvement, it does show progress from last year’s findings when even more women said they did not receive adequate mental health support from their employer and did not feel comfortable speaking about mental health in the workplace.

It’s no wonder women are stressed out and having trouble turning off. Because…

Women are feeling the weight of misbalanced caregiving and domestic responsibilities. Notably, 50% of women who live with a partner and have children say they take the most responsibility for childcare—up from 46% in 2023, with only 12% saying this falls to their partner. Further, 57% of women who live with a partner and are involved in care of another adult say they take the greatest responsibility for this—up from 44% in 2023, while only 5% say this responsibility falls to their partner. Meanwhile, more than two in five women bear the most responsibility for cleaning and other domestic tasks, similar to 2023. These pressures are taking a toll: women who take on the greatest share of household responsibilities are far less likely to say they have good mental health than those who do not. And nearly half say they have taken time off work for mental health reasons in the past year, compared with just under a quarter of women who don’t have the greatest responsibilities for these tasks.

The result of this disproportionate allocation of responsibilities makes it more challenging for women professionally—only 27% of women who bear the greatest responsibility at home say they can disconnect from their personal life and focus on their careers.

Worse, the report showed that women feel even less supported by their employers than last year. One in ten of them feel they can talk openly at work about work/life balance and almost ALL of them (95 percent) feel that requesting or taking advantage of flexible working opportunities will affect their likelihood of promotion. And if they do speak up to ask for flexible work options, 93 percent of respondents don’t think their workload would be adjusted accordingly.

It’s not looking good, y’all.

The post Deloitte Checks in on Women at Work, the Results Aren’t Good appeared first on Going Concern.

As described in the PCAOB’s orders, from 2017 to 2019, Deloitte Philippines’s audit partners and other personnel engaged in widespread answer sharing – either by providing answers or using answers – or received answers without reporting such sharing in connection with tests for mandatory firm training courses. Baltazar directly and substantially contributed to Deloitte Philippines’s violations. On at least six occasions, Baltazar, in his capacity as the partner responsible for e-learning compliance, shared answers to training assessments with other audit partners at the firm. (Baltazar has since left the firm.)

In his role as National Professional Practice Director, Baltazar was responsible for, among other things, promoting audit quality, facilitating audit consultations, and monitoring and managing the compliance by the firm’s auditors with online training and professional training requirements.

The order against him explains what happened:

During the relevant time period (2017-2019), Respondent recognized that the Firm’s audit partners had fallen behind in their rates of compliance with trainings because their workloads and utilization rates made it difficult for them to keep up with required continuing professional education and trainings. Respondent e-mailed answers to e-learnings to the audit partners and others in the Firm at least six times from 2017 through 2019. For example, on January 4, 2019, Respondent sent an e-mail to the audit partner listserv with the subject “IFRS E – Learnings.” The email included answers to 21 different questions on three different IFRS topics. Respondent explained that those answers would result in a passing rate, but not a score of 100%.

Brilliant actually. The PCAOB did not find this brilliant.

Respondent violated PCAOB Rule 3502 because he knew, or recklessly did not know, that his actions and omissions would directly and substantially contribute to the Firm’s violations described above. As the NPPD, Respondent had responsibility for Firm personnel’s compliance with the Firm’s e-learnings and trainings. When Respondent recognized that Firm personnel’s compliance rates had fallen, he began sharing answers to exams.

As described above, Respondent shared answers with the Firm’s audit partners on at least six occasions from 2017-2019. Additionally, he was aware that others at the Firm were involved in improper answer sharing. Respondent failed to put a stop to or report that misconduct during the relevant period, despite his responsibilities for personnel management and promoting an ethical culture at the Firm.

Instead, as the Firm’s NPPD in charge of Firm training, Respondent created and fostered an environment in which it was acceptable to share answers and use shared answers on e-learning and training tests.

As for the situation at Deloitte Indonesia, says the PCAOB in the press release:

Additionally, from 2021 to 2023, more than 200 Deloitte Indonesia professionals engaged in answer sharing. The firm’s failure to detect and deter improper answer sharing by its personnel occurred despite numerous warnings from Deloitte Global and regional leadership that answer sharing was impermissible.

Legit, they really didn’t give a shit even when Deloitte Global started telling everyone to cool it on the answer sharing. Says the order:

During the relevant time period, large numbers of DT Indonesia personnel were involved in improper answer sharing. Indeed, more than 200 of its personnel, including two partners, participated in instances of improper answer sharing by, among other means, sending emails with answers to training test questions, providing screenshots of training questions and answers, or discussing answers when taking tests in the presence of others.

Despite this widespread answer sharing by the Firm’s personnel, none of those aware of the improper answer sharing timely reported the answer sharing (a) to anyone at the Firm not involved in answer sharing; (b) to anyone within regional leadership or Deloitte Global; or (c) to any relevant regulator. Moreover, the misconduct occurred notwithstanding numerous warnings from Deloitte Global and regional leadership that answer sharing was improper.

Beginning in October 2019 through September 2022, DT Indonesia partners were repeatedly told through a series of calls, townhalls, meetings, emails, and mandatory e-learnings that answer sharing was not acceptable. Despite these warnings, answer sharing at DT Indonesia continued until 2023, when the Firm discovered the misconduct and began an internal investigation.

“Few things erode trust like impaired ethics,” said PCAOB Chair Erica Y. Williams. “To protect investors, the PCAOB will continue to address serious quality control deficiencies at PCAOB-registered firms around the world.”

Yeah, we know. Do you really have nothing better to do?

PCAOB Imposes $2 Million in Fines on Deloitte Indonesia and Deloitte Philippines, Bars Firm Leader After Exam Cheating [PCAOB]

The post We Forgot to Mention Deloitte Got in Trouble For Cheating This Week, Too appeared first on Going Concern.

FT:

Deloitte has taken on extra office space in central London less than two years after making cutbacks, in an about-turn that indicates staff in professional services are returning to the workplace more regularly.

The Big Four accounting and consulting firm took on about 70,000 sq ft of space near its New Street Square headquarters in February, people familiar with the details told the Financial Times, increasing the size of its central London estate by almost a fifth.

Deloitte sharply reduced its office space because of the pandemic and the shift to working from home, closing two of its buildings in central London in 2021 and 2022. At the time, the firm said the move reflected its “ways of working” and “sustainability objectives”.

In June 2021, Deloitte UK pushed out this press release titled “Deloitte gives its 20,000 people the choice of when and where they work.” It said:

Deloitte’s chief executive, Richard Houston, has today confirmed that all of its UK people will be able to choose when, where and how they work in the future, once it is safe to do so.

Deloitte has long been a champion of agile working, with extended flexible working in place since 2014. While less than half of the firm’s UK workforce worked from home on a regular basis pre-COVID-19, the pandemic has accelerated Deloitte’s hybrid working model. Up to 20,000 people in the UK have worked from home or remotely since March last year.

Richard Houston, senior partner and chief executive, Deloitte, commented: “The impact of the pandemic has profoundly changed our way of life, not least in the way we work. The last year has really shown that one size does not fit all when it comes to balancing work and personal lives. It has also shown that we can trust our people to make the right choice in when, how and where they work.

“Once the Government has lifted all of the COVID-19 restrictions and we’re back up to full office capacity, we will let our people choose where they need to be to do their best work, in balance with their professional and personal responsibilities. I’m not going to announce any set number of days for people to be in the office or in specific locations. That means that our people can choose how often they come to the office, if they choose to do so at all, while focusing on how we can best serve our clients.”

A recent staff survey revealed that 81% of respondents anticipate working from a Deloitte office for up to two days a week in the future. The research also showed that 96% of Deloitte’s people want to have the freedom to choose how flexibly they will work in the future.

In addition, 86% of respondents ranked ‘collaborating with team colleagues’ and ‘interacting with others’ within their top three ways they envisage using the office in the future.

In April 2022, they scored themselves a nice little story in The Times for downsizing their office space in London:

Deloitte does the numbers and makes hybrid working permanent

Working from home is here to stay at Deloitte, which has scaled back its London office space in one of the biggest reductions of its kind since the pandemic.

The accountancy and consulting firm has cut its office space in the capital by more than a third as employees increasingly adopt a hybrid model of working partly in the office and partly from home.

It has abandoned two buildings which had 250,000 sq ft of office space in total, cutting its holdings to just two remaining sites with 485,000 sq ft of space for workers.

And now we’re here. As far as we’re aware, Deloitte UK hasn’t issued an official return-to-office mandate but with all the layoffs over there in the past year, one might be wise to make their presence known in the office if they’re on a team where such a thing matters.

Deloitte reverses Covid cuts by expanding office space in London [Financial Times]

The post Deloitte Changes Its Mind on Downsizing Office Space in the UK appeared first on Going Concern.

Prior to the Engagement Management System (EMS) update in November 2016, Deloitte auditors were permitted to manually enter sign-off dates for both audit work and reviews. After the update, now hindered by a software limitation, some auditors got creative and changed the date on their computers to do effectively the same thing for over 930 audit working papers in at least 39 audit engagements. Eventually they got caught when Deloitte ratted themselves out to regulators at CPA Ontario in 2019, leading to a $1.59 million ($1.2 million USD) fine. And some mild embarrassment.

Before bringing the matter to CPA Ontario, Deloitte implemented a software update that prevented anyone from changing the date and time on their computers. After March 2, 2018, anyone trying to do so would get a pop-up that says “you do not have permission to perform this task. Please contact
your computer administrator for help.”

Bringing things back to current day, The Globe and Mail had an update last week on the five partners involved in this backdating saga now that their CPA Ontario hearings are over. G&M specifically called out the fact that CPA Ontario included information on the partners’ performance ratings in each of their orders which is hilarious. Let’s take a look, shall we? We’ll include how many workpapers each partner personally backdated so we can keep score.

Nancy Ewings, with Deloitte since 1995, was the deputy leader of its private audit practice for Ontario at the time and remains a partner today.

The regulator says Deloitte lowered her quality rating for the 2019 fiscal year – a performance metric used in part to determine incentive pay – to “Meets Expectations” from “Exceeds Expectations,” resulting in a reduction of $56,000.

Workpapers backdated: Unknown. According to CPA Ontario, Ms. Ewings could not recall which working papers or engagements were impacted and Deloitte did not provide CPA Ontario with information sufficient to specifically identify the impacted working papers and audits. She served as lead engagement partner on 80 audits during the time period in question.

Still at Deloitte: Yes.

CPA Ontario settlement agreement [PDF]

Steven Lawrenson, with Deloitte since 1991, leads its Southwestern Ontario public-company audit practice.

CPA Ontario says Deloitte lowered his quality rating for the 2018 fiscal year to “Improvement Required” from “Meets Expectations,” resulting in a pay reduction of $65,750.

Workpapers backdated: 241

Still at Deloitte: Yes.

CPA Ontario settlement agreement [PDF]

Stacy Levac, with Deloitte since 2016, worked in audit in the Ottawa office exclusively for privately owned companies.

Deloitte lowered his quality rating for the 2019 fiscal year to “Improvement Required” from “Meets Expectations,” eliminated his incentive compensation and reduced a discretionary bonus by $10,000.

Workpapers backdated: 199

Still at Deloitte: No.

Ratan Ralliaram, with Deloitte since 1993, was the team leader for the GTA audit financial services group from 2017 to 2019.

CPA Ontario says Deloitte lowered his quality rating for the 2018 fiscal year to “Improvement Required” from “Meets Expectations,” resulting in a pay reduction of $52,600.

CPA Ontario settlement agreement [PDF]

Workpapers backdated: 268+3. He told two auditors underneath him to backdate three workpapers on top of the 268 he backdated personally.

Still at Deloitte: Yes.

Mervyn Ramos, with Deloitte since 2002, had been a lead engagement and EQCR partner and worked for clients in the financial services industry.

CPA Ontario says Deloitte lowered his quality rating for the 2018 fiscal year to “Meets Most Expectations” from “Meets Expectations.”

Workpapers backdated: 41

Still at Deloitte: No.

CPA Ontario settlement agreement [PDF]

Earlier: Deloitte Auditors Got Caught Changing Their Computer Clocks to Backdate Workpapers

The post Deloitte Partners Tragically Hit With “Improvement Required” Performance Ratings For Backdating Workpapers appeared first on Going Concern.

FT:

Under the plan, Deloitte’s main business units will be cut to four — audit and assurance; strategy, risk and transactions; technology and transformation; and tax and legal — from the five the firm has had since 2014.

The reorganisation will reduce costs across the firm, said one person familiar with the plan, but added that a figure had not yet been put on the savings.

Deloitte’s global chief executive Joe Ucuzoglu is spearheading the shake-up that will take a year to implement across the more than 150 countries the firm operates in.

In an email sent to Deloitte’s partners on Monday, Ucuzoglu said the plan would reduce the firm’s “complexity” and “free up” more of them to work with clients rather than manage staff internally. Deloitte employs about 455,000 people globally.

Sounds like some delayering will be going down.

From what FT was able to glean from the email sent to partners, assurance will remain as it is; consulting, financial advisory, and risk advisory will be condensed into two new units — strategy, risk & transactions (which includes M&A advisory), and technology & transformation. Tech and transformation will include engineering, AI, data, and cyber.

The important bit staff should know:

In an attempt to eliminate silos, some staff will be transferred to an expanded audit and assurance arm, including those working on environmental, social and governance.

Tax and legal will remain a standalone business within the new structure as Deloitte tries to wring benefits from the decision to keep its audit and consulting businesses together.

If the “Deloitte is restructuring” story sounds familiar, it should. Deloitte UK cut about 100 people from its financial advisory business — including partners — last month for the same nebulous reason. “The Big Four firm is planning to restructure its corporate finance advisory business,” wrote FT at the time.

It popped up before that in September when Deloitte laid off about 800 people. Said Deloitte UK CEO Richard Houston in a statement last September, “Today we announced some targeted restructuring across our businesses, which may — subject to consultation — put some roles at risk of redundancy. This follows a slowdown in growth, which, combined with the ongoing economic uncertainty, means we have to consider the shape of our business.”

Deloitte bragged last year they were using AI “to evaluate existing staffers’ skills and map out plans that would shift employees away from quieter parts of the business and into roles that are more in demand” so perhaps a mass restructuring is just that on a much bigger scale. We’ll have to wait and see.

The post Guess the AI Told Deloitte to Restructure Its Entire Business appeared first on Going Concern.

We are expanding Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance Blockchain & Digital Assets practice. We are seeking professionals who want to build off their existing audit knowledge or accounting experience and use such knowledge on exciting audit and advisory projects that add great value to our clients within their finance, accounting, and operation departments. From digital asset technical accounting issues to new standard implementations; from complex transaction support to internal controls specific to blockchain and digital assets, the leaders of our practice will help you expand your experience base to further develop your career.

More:

This time around, Cryptonews spotted several new openings on LinkedIn like this one for Senior Cyber Crypto Analyst with a security clearance in Arlington:

Deloitte Government and Public Services (“GPS”) Advisory LLP advises clients on managing business controversy and conflict, executing deals, and maintaining regulatory compliance. We provide services to companies throughout their lifecycle from purchasing a company to investigating potential fraud.

Our GPS Advisory Investigations and Intelligence (“I&I”) practice provides investigative expertise to analyze events, people, entities, and financial data in order to extract relevant insights for our federal clients’ mission-critical needs.

Work you’ll do:

Support cyber financial crime investigations, to include cryptocurrency fraud investigations, and work closely with law enforcement officials.

Additional responsibilities will include:

• Analyze large sets of transaction data.
• Develop summary reports and/or intelligence products.
• Perform link chart analysis.
• Perform follow-the-money techniques.

Required Qualifications:

• Active Top Secret (TS) security clearance, or higher, is required.
• Experience conducting Open Source Intelligence (“OSINT”) and darkweb research
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Experience conducting cryptocurrency investigations.
• Experience conducting money laundering investigations, financial investigations, government investigations, and/or forensic investigations.
• Knowledge and experience of cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and BSA data.
• Ability to conduct research and analysis using open-source information, national and international databases, and corporate record filings to match investigative findings and summarize data into a finished professional product.
• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States without the need for employer sponsorship, now or at any time in the future

Preferred:

• Experience supporting law enforcement investigations.
• Applied knowledge to the enforcement of Title 18, Title 31, and other applicable statutes of the Federal Criminal Code, and the seizure and forfeiture of illegally derived property.
• Experience conducting cryptocurrency analysis support Federal investigation and prosecutions by using criminal investigative tools such as Chainalysis, Elliptic, CipherTrace, TRM Labs, Elementus, etc.

According to ZipRecruiter the average salary for a Senior Cyber Security Analyst in Virginia is $106,184. Deloitte doesn’t list a salary on LinkedIn.

Blockchain data platform Chainalysis announced a strategic partnership with Deloitte last year “to help the organizations’ mutual clients address digital asset ecosystem compliance challenges.” Which would involve:

Chainalysis will work with Deloitte’s blockchain and digital assets practice across cryptocurrency and digital asset risk, analytics, investigation, anti-money laundering/know your customer (AML/KYC), and regulatory compliance. Additionally, Deloitte will expand its practitioner pool trained and certified in Chainalysis products focused on blockchain analytics and investigations.

So if anyone in the DMV is looking for a job, have at it.

The post Deloitte’s Hiring Darkweb Enthusiasts For a New Batch of Crypto Jobs appeared first on Going Concern.

At Deloitte US, we are a workplace for all. Incredibly proud to announce that we have been recognized as the Top Employer by CAREERS & the disABLED magazine! #BestWorkplaces https://t.co/7hOJYOFFIY pic.twitter.com/djl6mJZQTD

— Deloitte US (@DeloitteUS) February 18, 2024

It took some real digging to even find this magazine — there’s no direct link to it on Deloitte’s Awards and Recognitions page — but we did it. It seems it hasn’t been updated for 2024 yet so here’s how 2023 shook out:

Readers of Careers & the disABLED magazine were asked to name the employers, both private and public sector, for whom they would most like to work or that they believe would provide a progressive environment for people with disabilities. The employers, listed according to the frequency they were noted by respondents, are:

Congrats?

The post List of the Day: People Who Don’t Work at Deloitte Rank It As a Best Place to Work appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte, in celebration of their Technology Fast 500 program, visits the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square. Leaders from their Greater Washington practice will be joined by executives from Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winning companies based in the Greater Washington area.

In honor of the occasion, Amry Junaideen, Managing Principal and Greater Washington Marketplace Leader for Deloitte, rings the Closing Bell.

Amry’s CV:

Deloitte is a regular guest of Wall Street bell ringing ceremonies. See:

January 2014

June 2018

June 2021

A year ago they even got to open the market at the New York Stock Exchange:

Thrilling. You can watch it here.

Update: They don’t allow embedding so you’ll have to click through if you want to see this exhilarating moment.

The post Deloitte Will Be Ringing Today’s Closing Bell at Nasdaq appeared first on Going Concern.

Happened to see this on the propaganda factory that is the Life at Deloitte Xitter account yesterday and figured it would be good to share, it isn’t often we get feels from Big 4 initiatives. It seems Deloitte’s second service dog is heading off to the next chapter in his journey:

And just like that, a new chapter begins for our #PuppyWithAPurpose, Kevin!

After completing his ‘first year’ of training adventures, Kevin is heading to NY for advanced training in hopes of becoming a service dog for a Veteran or first responder pic.twitter.com/yP6MltjiVE

— Life at Deloitte US (@lifeatdeloitte) January 30, 2024

Kevin, you magnificent son of a bitch!

Here are a few select adventures Kevin’s had in his time with trainer Deb Golden who is currently US Chief Innovation Officer and puppy whisperer. If you too need a strong dose of dog pictures today you can find him on Insta at kevinservicepup until they change the handle for the next dog.

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A post shared by Kevin (@kevinservicepup)

Deloitte’s first “puppy with a purpose” was this stunning gent Benny who finished his initial training in 2022 and leveled up to formal service dog training with a certified instructor from America’s VetDogs before Kevin arrived on the scene:

New dog when, Deloitte? Please subscribe us to that newsletter. And happy trails to the goodest boy Kevin!

The post Deloitte’s Second Service Doggo Is All Grown Up appeared first on Going Concern.

Reports FT:

Deloitte is set to axe 100 more jobs in the UK as a prolonged slowdown in deals activity hits demand for some of its services.

The Big Four firm is planning to restructure its corporate finance advisory business, according to a person familiar with the matter, putting about 100 employees from all grades — including some partners and graduate staff — at risk of redundancy. The cuts would be equivalent to 5 per cent of the firm’s financial advisory division.

That word — “restructure” — made an appearance during the last round of layoffs at Deloitte, too. Said Deloitte UK CEO Richard Houston in a statement last September, “Today we announced some targeted restructuring across our businesses, which may — subject to consultation — put some roles at risk of redundancy. This follows a slowdown in growth, which, combined with the ongoing economic uncertainty, means we have to consider the shape of our business.”

Several weeks Deloitte nabbed headlines from all the business rags about a plan to use AI to avoid mass layoffs. “Deloitte LLP is using AI to evaluate existing staffers’ skills and map out plans that would shift employees away from quieter parts of the business and into roles that are more in demand,” said Bloomberg. “It’s part of a broader bet by the professional services firm that the technology will allow it to moderate hiring growth over time.”

Deloitte to axe 100 more UK jobs amid deals slowdown [Financial Times]

The post Layoff Watch ’24: Deloitte UK Is Cutting Some More Jobs appeared first on Going Concern.

But wait! There’s more! Ten posters to be exact, nine of which are terrible.

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This set includes:

• Don’t “circle back”
• Do Talk straight [Take your own advice here, Big D]
• Don’t “run it up the flagpole”
• Dare to boldly go work on a floor you’ve never been to before.
• Dare to not sit in the same side of the table that you usually do.

In the same side of the table?

Moving on:

• Dare to accidentally be on mute, but then own it
• Celebrating our wins? Well, that’s a win win. [I hear the faint sound of fapping off in the distance when I read this]
• Take a step towards empathy. Walk in someone else’s shoes today. Not literally though.
• Honesty is the best policy. Honestly.

OK, that last one is alright. Honestly.

What’s with the creepy “If you see something, say something” eyeballs on these? They make me nervous.

Digging past the cringe slogans into what “Aussie Signals” are, we find this explanation straight from Deloitte. These signals mentioned in small text at the bottom of each poster “showcase how our Australian firm uniquely exemplifies these values.” OK.

Be you

Be true to your authentic self, upholding your integrity, while embracing and honouring the diversity of others.

Empower and trust

Actively listen to and support the people around you. Trust others and earn trust through consistent actions.

Talk straight

Be open and honest, but always with care and empathy. Have the courage to speak up and back your sense of integrity.

Have fun and celebrate

Enjoy and celebrate what you do and those you do it with. Manage your energy so you can uplift and elevate others.

Dare to be different

Embrace creativity to make a greater impact. Be curious to learn and try new things.

Please just stick to professional services. I don’t know how many times and in how many different ways we have to say this.

The post Deloitte Has Out-Cringed Itself appeared first on Going Concern.

In case you didn’t know, a space race is underway. Not the one that put men on the moon, the one in which global accounting firms figure out how to bill for activities in and around the great beyond. It appears Deloitte is leading the charge (pun intended), though EY is making moves too.

For today, Deloitte Canada is urging its home country to get on this final frontier gig before they get left behind. Why? Money, obviously. Why does anyone do anything?

Here’s the short pitch from a press release:

Space-based activity will be a keystone of the national and global economy over the next century, and Canada’s public and private sectors have the opportunity to be major players. Now is the time to act.

The longer version details the opportunity for economic growth, security, more growth, and economic competitiveness which falls under the growth category. So money, basically.

A new report by Deloitte Canada, in collaboration with Space Canada, states that Canada is well-positioned to benefit from the significant economic opportunities that the space sector presents. However, to do so, the country needs to develop a smart, sustained, and well-executed strategy. The report, Reaching beyond: A $40 billion Canadian space economy by 2040, examines the current role of space in Canada’s economy and its potential for growth and further contribution to the country’s prosperity.

“Space is a domain of awe-inspiring exploration and discovery, but it’s much more than that. Space-based assets and services are now critical infrastructure,” says Scott Streiner, Senior Advisor at Deloitte Canada. “Strengthening Canada’s position in the space sector is a strategic imperative. For the sake of the country’s economic competitiveness and productivity, and to help ensure national security and essential services for citizens, Canada needs to bring energy and determination to the new space race. Now is the moment to act—to build on that progress, mobilize our capabilities and resources, and aim for “40 by 40”—a $40 billion national space economy by 2040.”

Space activity is growing at an unprecedented rate and becoming critical to modern economies and societies, national security, and climate action. It is a domain of tremendous opportunity for entrepreneurs, investors, and nations. As impressive as Canada’s space sector may appear, it accounts for only about one per cent of today’s worldwide space economy—despite the country’s economy representing approximately two per cent of the global GDP.

Naturally, the report suggests Canada get in on this space thing and make it a public-private type deal.

Despite the rise in commercial activity, space remains a domain in which public policies and programs—and choices governments make on purchasing and delivering their own services—have an outsized effect on private firms. To realize the full potential of the space sector, purposeful and effective public policy is required. The report outlines clear recommendations for a thriving Canadian space sector, including:

Expanding collaboration: Collaboration between the private sector, academia and government can drive innovation in the space sector. Various measures can help make this happen, such as establishing a virtual platform for companies and researchers to connect, facilitating collaboration between government scientists and private-sector players, and making government labs and testing facilities available to early-stage space companies at a nominal cost.

Some estimates say the global space economy could generate $1 trillion a year by 2040, just 16 short years away. A 2021 Northern Sky Research report found that 500 exabytes of data will come to and from space from 2020 to 2030, a 14x increase from the ten years before (one exabyte = one billion gigabytes). Meaning there’s a lot of money to be made out there and you don’t even have to take your feet off the ground.

The Canadian space economy could be worth $40 billion by 2040 [Deloitte press release]

The post Deloitte’s Counting the Loonies in Space appeared first on Going Concern.

Another major tenant in one of downtown Dallas’ legacy skyscrapers is headed Uptown to a new building.

Professional services firm Deloitte LLP plans to relocate its Dallas office from the former Chase Tower to the 23Springs office tower under construction in Uptown

The new space is not just new to Deloitte, it’s brand new to everyone. The 625,000-square-foot 23Springs building at 2323 Cedar Springs Rd. is set to open next year. According to the property’s snazzy website, it offers “a high-end fitness studio, a customer lounge & golf simulator, coffee & wine bar, conference center, a sophisticated street-level park, dramatic views of the city, and numerous restaurants.” Not a golf simulator!

The developer’s senior managing director cheerfully told Morning News, “If you are an employer or an owner of commercial real estate, you have to create a product that gets people from working at home. You have to make employees desire and want to come into the office.”

Let’s check this place out and see if it beats slobbing around at home in sweats.

Deloitte will be taking more than 100,000 square feet across four floors some time in 2026.

The nearly 2,800 professionals at Deloitte’s Dallas office currently work out of Dallas Arts Tower, fka Chase Tower, at 2200 Ross Avenue, a 738 foot, 55-story “postmodern” skyscraper smack dab in downtown that is older than most managers working at Deloitte.

Way back in 2009, the city enticed Deloitte into bringing more people downtown rather than moving operations to Irving by offering a $2 million “economic development grant.” In exchange, Deloitte had to sign a 10-year lease extension at Chase Tower beginning in 2011 and commit to maintaining a minimum of 1,111 jobs at the location, a number we still don’t know the origins of other than the possibility of some city councilperson with arithmomania pulling it out of their backside. The city believed at the time this $2 million investment would yield $31 million in net city fiscal impact, not a bad return for their money.

Elsewhere in the sprawling Dallas metro, last year the firm announced a Deloitte University expansion that will add eight buildings across at least 300,000 sq ft to the existing 700,000 sq ft campus in Westlake.

Deloitte moving workers from downtown Dallas to new Uptown tower in huge office lease [Dallas Morning News]

The post Deloitte Is Getting a New Office in Dallas appeared first on Going Concern.

It said:

The giants of the consulting world face an unusual quandary this year: many of them are in the process of dismissing hundreds of staffers even after they hired thousands of college graduates to deal with new demand. Now, one of the biggest of them all is looking to artificial intelligence to change that.

Deloitte LLP is using AI to evaluate existing staffers’ skills and map out plans that would shift employees away from quieter parts of the business and into roles that are more in demand. It’s part of a broader bet by the professional services firm that the technology will allow it to moderate hiring growth over time.

Bullshit.

And:

The moves come after Deloitte added 130,000 staffers this year. But in the midst of those hirings, though, the firm warned thousands of staffers in the US and UK that their jobs were at risk of becoming redundant after the company was forced to restructure certain areas of the business in response to a slowdown in demand.

“It is obviously a great objective to be able to avoid large swings of hirings and layoffs,” said Stevan Rolls, global chief talent officer at Deloitte, to Bloomberg. “You could always be more efficient and effective about finding the right people.”

Do they not already have talent management software or a spreadsheet or something that can do this for them? One would expect a $65 billion company would have something.

Official layoffs haven’t been announced/reported since Deloitte cut 1200 people in April but according to multiple sources we’ve spoken to over the past few months and reports in r/deloitte of people with decent utilization getting the axe, they’ve absolutely been making cuts beyond the usual dead weight.

A small sampling of recent posts:

Were you laid off? I sure was.

Consulting, Strategy and Analytics, 1.5 years in consulting, MBA, high util, high snapshots and performance reviews, staffed

I genuinely cannot figure out why I was laid off.

Anyone else in a similar boat? Other posts I’ve read are from people who were laid off with very low util which makes more sense.

Fall/Winter layoffs, r/deloitte this week

I was expecting it as I’ve been on the bench for two months and had a 49% util but it still stings. I was a campus hire and been here for over a year now. All my performance reviews were around very strong and I tried my very hardest to get on a project. The last four projects I was supposed to be on either fell through or the start date got pushed back. Trying not to take it personally but it definitely feels like a personal failure. If anyone whose been laid off and is still lurking this sub would like to share some positive success stories it would be much appreciated. Adios Uncle D

Just received the dreaded business update email, r/deloitte 2 months ago

Layoff is still happening and unfortunately this Friday is my last day. Stayed a bit over year with the firm. About 15% of my starting class got laid off at this point, most of them including me have been riding the bench for 2+ months. Feel like we are set up for failure. I have a big heart and already moving on. But kind words are appreciated.

Utilization: 60%

Performance snapshot: both around very strong

On bench for 3.5 months

Audit Layoff, r/deloitte 2 months ago

And this excellent comment on the above thread that someone may need to read:

Bro. You don’t need kind words. You need a reality check. I was completely unaware of layoffs until i got laid off this year. I cant explain the effect it had on me because i had 8 yrs experience and joined as M. These jobs and their “performance” is a complete scam. You are young so remember that no job is reliable. You need something of your own. Its your livelihood. So go into a serious life building journey. I am. As for the layoff. I am sorry to hear that but equally excited for what future holds for you. Your post suggests a strong character with a sound mind. Good luck with all the goodness ahead. May God be with you. Remember: this wasn’t about you.

Then there was this in October, a month after Deloitte announced FY23 revenue:

Do you all remember when Deloitte US slashed 5% of the workforce in the first few months of the pandemic? Whoever survived that round of cuts was subject to a reduced work schedule and having reduced pay. Deloitte Ireland and Deloitte UK managed to avoid mass lettings go (let-gos? Whatever) and instead made partners take the hit — 30% reduction in partner pay for Ireland and approximately 20% reduction in partner annual earnings in the UK though UK did reduce/defer bonuses and withhold annual salary increases that year as well. A couple months later Deloitte announced record revenue of $47.6 billion, a 3.9% increase from 2019. To be fair, 2020’s 3.9% increase was the smallest year-over-year revenue growth at Deloitte since 2014-15 when revenue grew by about 3.2%. Violins.

Look, layoffs happen. The economy sucks. Sometimes people even have it coming. But let’s not fall for the hype and blindly accept this impressive-sounding statement as fact. Don’t we remember when blockchain was the overhyped technology that was going to solve all the world’s problems? We saw how that turned out.

Funny enough, if you ask ChatGPT to do what Deloitte told Bloomberg they’re going to do as if it’s some revolutionary concept it basically tells you to do exactly that.

Personally I’d keep the weirdo, you can work them harder because they aren’t wasting effort on endearing themselves to their coworkers.

Remember:

Any technology Big 4 firms deploy for this purpose isn’t to save jobs, it’s to save partner profits and anyone who believes otherwise is a fool.

The post We’re Not Buying This ‘Deloitte Using AI to Avoid Layoffs’ Story appeared first on Going Concern.

The accusation is that on March 17, 2022, Jassen and colleagues were at the Waldorf Hotel in London for a social event organized by Deloitte. While there, he kissed an unidentified person on the lips, conduct the SRA said was “inappropriate and/or unwanted and/or sexually motivated.” And/or creepy.

The allegation is as yet unproven, he’ll be going before a Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal now and the SRA could decide to bar him from practice or fine him. Said Deloitte in a comment to City A.M.: “As this is an ongoing regulatory matter, it would not be appropriate to comment.”

He no longer works for Deloitte.

The post Former Deloitte Lawyer Learns You Can’t Just Go Around Kissing People at Work Events (Allegedly) appeared first on Going Concern.

That’s what happened last week when a group of academics presented AI-generated case studies on Big 4 malfeasance before Australian parliament. The academic who claimed responsibility for the submission — Macquarie University Professor of Accounting and Corporate Governance James Guthrie — had only started using Google Bard that same week and did not fact check Bard’s work. A+ trolling by Bard there.

Maybe this warning needs to be larger.

The Guardian:

The original submission falsely accused KPMG of being complicit in a “KPMG 7-Eleven wage theft scandal” that led to the resignation of several partners. It also accused KPMG of auditing the Commonwealth Bank during a financial planning scandal. KPMG never audited the Commonwealth Bank.

Deloitte’s general counsel, Tala Bennett, also expressed concern about the submission wrongly accusing her firm of being sued by the liquidators of the collapsed building company Probuild for allegedly failing to properly audit its accounts. Deloitte never audited Probuild.

The submission raised concerns about a “Deloitte NAB financial planning scandal” and wrongly accused the firm of advising the bank on a scheme that defrauded customers of millions of dollars. Deloitte told the Senate there was no such scandal.

It also accused Deloitte of falsifying the accounts of a company called Patisserie Valerie. Deloitte had never audited the company.

Patisserie Valerie was audited by Grant Thornton (incompetently) and Deloitte is well within its rights to be outraged by this mix-up because even the dumbest of AIs shouldn’t have gotten that one wrong. Worse, the accounting professor who received that information from Bard should have known better. If the burnouts here at Going Concern can remember which firm screwed up which audit you’d expect esteemed academics to do at minimum the same if not better.

“Deloitte supports academic freedom and constructive discourse in relation to those matters currently before the committee, however, it considers that it is important to have factually incorrect information corrected,” said Deloitte’s annoyed lawyer. “It is disappointing that this has occurred, and we look forward to understanding the committee’s approach to correcting this information.”

KPMG, too, was pissed and wrote a strongly worded letter to the academics’ employers to complain. There was a 7-Eleven wage theft scandal (“widespread systematic underpayment of workers by franchisees“) though it appears the only connection it has to KPMG is former Partner in Charge of KPMG Australia’s People Advisory Practice Dharmendra Chandran joining the 7-Eleven board post-scandal.

Having taken responsibility for the egregious mistake, Professor Guthrie proceeded to drive the bus over himself in a letter to the Senate. Some quotes from the letter as shared by Guardian and Americanized for our audience (as in we switched the S for a Z in “realize”):

“Given that the use of AI has largely led to these inaccuracies, the entire authorship team sincerely apologizes to the committee and the named Big Four partnerships in those parts of the two submissions that used and referenced the Google Bard Large Language model generator,” Guthrie said in the letter.

“Given we are also accounting academics, we are deeply invested in the public interest and ensuring accountability and transparency in the sector – which is why we unreservedly offer our apologies and deep regret.”

“I now realize that AI can generate authoritative-sounding output that can be incorrect, incomplete or biased,” Guthrie said.

Ahem.

With the apology out of the way, Guthrie stands by the overall sentiment that Big 4 firms are scandalous and might be in need of breaking up. “Our substantive arguments and our recommendations for reform remain important to ensure a sustainable sector built on shared community values,” he said in the letter. For further reading, see this Australian Financial Review opinion piece: “PwC scandal makes a case for breaking up the big four.”

Because the false statements were covered by parliamentary privilege, the firms can’t sue for defamation. So the lesson here is if you’re going to accuse Big 4 firms of things they didn’t actually do and don’t want to get sued for it, do it at a parliamentary inquiry.

The post Academics Let AI Ruthlessly Slander Big 4 Firms, They’re Very Sorry They Didn’t Think to Fact Check appeared first on Going Concern.

CPA Ontario announced yesterday Deloitte will be paying $1.59 million ($1.15 million USD) in fines and costs for breaches of the CPA Ontario Code of Professional Conduct (Rule 501 and 502). 501 covers a firm’s maintenance of policies and procedures for compliance with professional standards and 502 a firm’s maintenance of policies and procedures: competence and conduct of firm members.

The press release says:

A number of Deloitte auditors in Ontario changed the date and time settings on their computer clocks to manually override controls in Deloitte’s audit software and backdate audit working paper signoffs between November 2016 and May 2018. During this period over 930 audit working papers were backdated in at least 39 audit engagements.

The settlement agreement [PDF] gives a bit more info:

Certain Deloitte audit practitioners identified the opportunity to bypass the new limits imposed by the November 7, 2016 EMS update and began adjusting the clock on their computers to Backdate the sign-off dates of audit working papers.

A number of students, staff, managers, engagement partners, and engagement quality control review partners in the audit practice changed their computer clocks to Backdate sign-offs in the course of performing assurance engagements for private and public entities. This conduct continued until March 2018.

During this period at least 35 Deloitte CPA Ontario members engaged in Backdating, and in some cases instructed others to do so, in over 930 audit working papers in 39 audit engagements.

Sign-off dates were changed from after the date of the audit report to a date prior to the audit report, or before the date of the audit report to an earlier date, or after the audit report date to another date after the audit report date.

According to the settlement agreement, it was the firm themselves that tipped off CPA Ontario that a number of its partners and professional staff had changed the sign-off dates in numerous audit working papers. The investigation began in September 2019 and concluded with the settlement reached in September. Prior to 2016, Deloitte Canada’s engagement management system allowed users to manually select a sign-off date for an audit working paper.

The settlement gives us the backstory on the change, explained below.

In response to findings by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board of an incident where archived audit documentation had been improperly altered outside of Canada, DTTL required all its global members, including Deloitte, to conduct a mandatory conference call focused on audit quality and integrity with all audit partners before the end of October 2016.

Prior to debuting the new procedure that would default sign-offs to the date on a user’s computer, Deloitte National Office held a call with partners informing them off the change.

Leading with the script National Office was given by DTTL, the National Office first set out the regulatory context of the call, referencing:

• (a) the emphasis placed by the PCAOB on integrity, and PCAOB’s recent public statements about how integrity was “as important, if not more
  important, than audit quality issues;”
• (b) many discipline orders issued by PCAOB to date involving a failure to cooperate included the improper alteration of documents;
• (c) that PCAOB inspectors uncovered evidence of the creation of documents shortly before or during a PCAOB inspection which were then backdated and provided without disclosing when they were created, resulting in firm sanctions for improperly deleting, adding, or altering documentation in connection with an inspection.

The National Office then expressed Deloitte’s zero tolerance policy for the type of behavior found by PCAOB, focused on recently introduced DTTL quality processes for archiving and forensics, and informed call participants that:

“Going forward we are enhancing EMS such that the undocumented alteration of a previously archived engagement file will be identified as part of a process prior to the provision of a file for inspection.

Effective immediately, ‘back-dating’ of working papers is not allowed. DTTL is mandating that this function be discontinued at each DTTL member firm, so that it will no longer be available.”

The National Office script did not make it clear that backdating of all sign-off dates, and not just those that might be under scrutiny during a regulatory inspection, was not permitted and was conduct which violated professional standards and the Code. This omission led, at a minimum, to confusion, with some call participants understanding that the prohibited “back-dating” referred specifically to archived working papers, rather than the broader focus of the pending Engagement Management System change to disable the selection of working paper sign-off dates.

On October 26, 2016, Deloitte issued an audit practice alert to all audit staff, indicating, among other things, that the ability to choose a sign-off date in EMS was being removed.

The EMS update was released on November 7, 2016, disabling a user’s ability to use the software to both choose the date of their sign-off and the ability to sign-off on someone else’s behalf.

On November 7, 2016, a second audit alert email was issued indicating that the EMS changes would be pushed to users’ laptops that day to disable the “edit signoff date” and “sign-off on behalf” features.

Certain personnel in the Firm’s National Office were aware of a risk that the new software restrictions could potentially be bypassed by individuals manually changing the date and/or time on a user’s computer clock . They took steps to determine if it was possible to detect or prevent any effort to avoid the new EMS functionality, and they concluded that there was no solution available. LOL.

Having identified that the new EMS restrictions could potentially be bypassed by a user changing their computer clock, the National Office considered whether to expressly address this issue in its communications, and to be explicit that doing so was prohibited. Instead, the National Office decided not to communicate this message on the basis that such communication could instead “socialize” inappropriate conduct if it were made known that Clock Adjusting in order to Backdate sign-off dates remained possible.

No messages were conveyed by the National Office between November 2016 to February 2018 to communicate that: it was inappropriate for auditors to bypass the function of the audit software by changing the computer clock; highlighting why the EMS sign-off date edit function had been disabled; or that Backdating was unacceptable and contrary to the Code.

Deloitte incorrectly assumed that the two practice alerts sent October 26 and November 7, 2016, about the changes to EMS were sufficient communication to the audit practice, and that no additional communication was required about the changes to the ADG in November 2016.

In early 2017, two Ontario audit partners learned that audit practitioners were engaging in the practice of Backdating. Both partners communicated to members of their respective audit teams that the practice was not acceptable. Neither partner took steps to address the issue with other partners or with Firm leadership. Moreover, a number of audit partners took part in the practice themselves. LOL again.

So here we are. Per the settlement, Deloitte will pay a fine of $900,000 ($649k USD) and costs of $695,000 to CPA Ontario for its troubles.

The post Deloitte Auditors Got Caught Changing Their Computer Clocks to Backdate Workpapers appeared first on Going Concern.

After the deal, one of the largest such combination deals in the region, Deloitte will have 28 partners and 800 people, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.

PwC’s Sri Lanka and Maldives firms will join Deloitte with effect from Oct. 28, the memo said.

In the memo, Deloitte South Asia CEO Romal Shetty said the deal is “a transformative chapter in our history and marks a strategic leap forward.” Earlier this year, Shetty said Deloitte plans to have around 30% of its workforce operating from India within the next four years. The PwC deal will further expand Deloitte’s foothold in the region and open the door for Deloitte to diversify away from mostly audit services and into advisory and particularly technology consulting.

A Deloitte spokesperson confirmed the transaction but did not provide any details. On the PwC side, Reuters reviewed a memo sent to clients that said the soon-to-be ex-PwC network firms are “committed to effecting a seamless transition as we prepare to join Deloitte.”

The deal will make Deloitte the second largest professional services firm in Sri Lanka, the first largest being — brace yourself — KPMG (according to Reuters’ source, anyway).

The post Deloitte Is Taking PwC’s Sloppy Seconds in South Asia to Get Into Technology Consulting appeared first on Going Concern.

The 2023 Transparency Report talks quite a bit about governance, ethics, audit quality, leadership, blah blah.

You’re welcome to check it out should any of these appeal to you, just know each section is littered with Deloitte’s trademark self-fellating language. We’re here for page 14 (16 in the PDF) and the part FT highlighted in their article this morning. This:

Since 2021, employee comp and benefits as a percentage of revenue climbed from 52.4 percent to 55.4 percent, the highest it’s been since the firm started sharing the number a few years back. Deloitte US revenue climbed during that period as well — $22.9 billion for 2021, $27.9 billion for 2022, and $32.7 billion for 2023 (source) — so that means employee compensation as a percentage of revenue was $12 billion in 2021, $15.3 billion in 2022, and $18.1 billion in 2023 (numbers are sloppily rounded, accountants are encouraged to check my math). Going a little further back, comp and benefits as a percentage of revenue was 46.2 percent in 2015, 47.9 percent in 2016, 49.1 percent in both 2017 and 2018, and 49.2 percent in 2019. It wasn’t until 2020 the firm hit more than half its revenue (51.2 percent) on employee comp and benefits. According to the non-GAAP financial information they’ve shared, that is.

As for the rest of the report, there’s a bit of lip service paid to attraction and retention, professional development, and performance management. None of it is particularly intriguing though. Again, you can read it yourself to make your own determination.

The post Here’s How Much Deloitte Spends on Compensation As a Percentage of the Firm’s Revenue appeared first on Going Concern.

We talked all the time in grad school (approx 6 years ago) that there was no way the (then) current model would be sustainable… I think it’s finally starting to crumble. Deloitte just announced more audit layoffs.

— Pwnyboy (@The_Mr__Smith) October 6, 2023

There’s been no official announcement but there’s this. We’ll assume Mr. D is consulting chair Dan Helfrich and not someone’s actual uncle but who knows with Reddit.

Reduction in workforce
byu/Brilliant_Mess_8307 indeloitte

The number getting thrown around is 3%.

These layoffs are a joke
byu/nsfo indeloitte

The last official layoff announcement was in April when Deloitte announced the culling of around 1200 people (1.5% of the workforce). Those layoffs were concentrated primarily in financial advisory.

If you know more on this you know what to do.

The post Layoff Watch ’23: Deloitte’s Up to Something appeared first on Going Concern.

• Gen Zs were more than twice as likely as boomers to have their social media account hacked (17% vs. 8%) and three times more likely than boomers to fall for an online scam (16% vs. 5%).

Can we please stop using “hacked” to mean compromised?

Someone at Deloitte spoke to Vox about it and the idea is that Gen Z is online more, and in more ways, than older generations so it could just be that the odds they’ll come across a scam are higher:

The kinds of scams that target Gen Z aren’t too dissimilar to the ones that target everyone else online. But because Gen Z relies on technology more often, on more devices, and in more aspects of their lives, there might just be more opportunities for them to encounter a bogus email or unreliable shop, says Tanneasha Gordon, a principal at Deloitte who leads the company’s data & digital trust business. Younger people are more comfortable with meeting people online, so they might be targeted with a romance scam, for instance.

“They shop a lot online,” Gordon said, “and there are so many fraudulent websites and e-commerce platforms that just literally tailor to them, that will take them from the social media platform that they’re on via a fraudulent ad.” Phishing emails are also common, she said. And while a more digitally savvy person might not fall for a copy/pasted, typo-riddled email scam, there are many more sophisticated, personalized ones out there. Finally, Gordon added, younger people will often encounter social media impersonation and compromised accounts.

The fraudulent ads are getting out of hand, I’ll give them that. Was scrolling our Twitter the other day and we seem to get nothing but shady product ads. One of them was for this really cool owl shawl, not that I need such a thing but I was curious anyway. I Googled the website selling it, didn’t get much info. So I went into retweets of the ad and eventually found someone calling it out — the sponsor of the ad had stolen images from someone who sells crochet patterns and was putting them out as an actual product for purchase.

Somehow I don’t think @tinyowlknits approved this random company stealing her intellectual property but whomst am I to say https://t.co/1hUufpqozb

— Valerie Insinna (@ValerieInsinna) September 21, 2023

And the same design from a different company. There are several more like this.

This is a design (and her photographs!) by Tiny Owl Knits.

If you purchase it, you are contributing to the theft of art by a talented small designer.
Don’t buy this!@tinyowlknits https://t.co/BfrD35fwbU

— Leslie Bernard MEd (@knitntherapist) September 26, 2023

I’m curious what you’d actually get if you ordered. A triangular piece of sheer white cloth with an owl printed on it?

There’s one streetwear brand in particular I’ve checked out a few times, it looks like a completely legit operation based in the US except they sell excessively marked up Aliexpress hoodies and you’ll have to wait several weeks for it to arrive from China. Might as well order it from China yourself. I mean come on, if this is “streetwear” then the street it’s referring to is the one in Chinatown with the Obama Sonic backpacks and off-brand Pokémon:

We’ve all seen the Wish vs reality posts:

All that to say, don’t buy things from social media ads. You might get lucky, you might get some drop-shipped nonsense you could have gotten for much cheaper direct from Aliexpress, or you might get nothing at all.

And don’t get me started on the concerning number of young men getting wrapped up sextortion scams on Snap/Insta/Discord/Yahoo! Mail. Go to r/scams and there are several new ones a day. Guys, random women on the internet do not want to see your junk. That goes for young and old alike.

Anyway, went off on a tangent there. Be safe. And send Kitboga videos to your nearest Zoomer.

Deloitte: The Connected Consumer Paradox – Desire for Fewer Devices vs. More Virtual Experiences and Technology Innovation [PR Newswire]

The post Deloitte Survey Finds Zoomers Are 3x More Likely to Fall For Scams Than Boomers So Why Don’t More of Them Work at Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

The expansion will add eight buildings across at least 300,000 square feet to the existing 700,000 square foot campus and 25 full-time jobs to the metropolitan Dallas job market. A five-story building opening in 2025 will include “classrooms, meeting rooms, outdoor roof terrace, food and beverage and approximately 300 guest rooms.” And if classrooms aren’t your thing, they’re also working on walking and biking trails, lakes, seating, and landscaping.

Deloitte University is nestled about 30 miles northwest of Dallas and currently a quarter-mile-long. The “cultist brainwashing compound” is known best for its superior food offerings, the brisket in particular is a thing of legend. Deloitte Disneyland hosts about 65,000-70,000 people each year and according to the firm, more than half a million people have visited the grounds since it launched in 2011. Do they still have alcohol-fueled Jenga and karaoke competitions?

Here’s a promo video from Deloitte for you to look upon with awe. It’s not a sprawling communist-style housing block, it’s a learning center.

The post Deloitte University Is Getting Bigger Because God Forbid KPMG Have the Superior Brainwashing Compound appeared first on Going Concern.

Said Deloitte UK chief executive Richard Houston via statement:

“Today we announced some targeted restructuring across our businesses, which may — subject to consultation — put some roles at risk of redundancy. This follows a slowdown in growth, which, combined with the ongoing economic uncertainty, means we have to consider the shape of our business. I fully understand this is an unsettling time for those people affected and we will be doing everything we can to support individuals with care and respect.”

It was just six days ago that Deloitte Global announced record-breaking revenue of $64.9 billion for its last fiscal year, not only a record for Deloitte but for every global accounting firm ever in the entire history of global accounting firms. As FN reported last September, distributable profit at Deloitte UK was up 21 percent to £711 million ($888 million USD) for the year to May 31, 2022, bringing last year’s average profit per partner to £1.05 million.

The layoffs will continue until morale attrition improves.

The post Layoff Watch ’23: Deloitte UK Cuts More Than 800 People Because Business is Slow and People Aren’t Quitting appeared first on Going Concern.

Consulting giant Deloitte is holding a big partner bash from Thursday, flying in more than 1000 partners and nearly booking out a couple of five-star hotels in town.

But while CBD hears that excited staff are keen to pillage the Barossa wineries on the weekend, Deloitte insists it’s a two-day conference – and definitely not a party.

A spokeswoman told CBD: “This is an annual partner meeting that provides an important opportunity for Deloitte partners to get together and connect in person to discuss our strategic priorities and reinforce the culture and values of the firm.”

A spokesperson, maybe the same one, told The Advertiser two nights of partners’ accommodation was covered by the firm but that “any partners attending are free to participate in additional tourist activities in their own time and at their own expense.”

Fast-forward to a few days ago and SMH had a follow-up:

So what then are we to make of the photos emerging from the get-together showing a bunch of Deloitte types having a wild old time, as disco lights flashed and a janky cover band belted out bangers to a braying crowd of partners?

Brutal. Y’all didn’t have to drag the cover band like that.

There was even a bloke crowd-surfing across what appears for all the world to be a mosh pit, but Deloitte’s official spokespeople wouldn’t comment on all that, saying they had nothing to add to their statement from last week. The “not a party” one.

See: Deloitte partners crowd-surf over mosh pits at Adelaide retreat

Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, partners work hard and deserve to let their nonexistent hair down from time to time and they’d just announced $2.85 billion in revenue for fiscal ’23, $3.5 million of that going to CEO Adam Powick’s salary (FWIW he told a senate inquiry he didn’t deserve to be paid seven times more than the country’s prime minister). Except Deloitte has been in Aussie papers right next to scandal-plagued PwC for months, you’d think maybe they’d keep a “retreat” on the down-low. See:

Deloitte Just Admitted to Misusing Government Information à la PwC Tax Scandal

Too soon, guys. Too soon.

The post According to Deloitte, Partners Crowdsurfing in Mosh Pits is Not a Party appeared first on Going Concern.

In his first revenue release since he took the big chair as CEO of Deloitte Global last December, former Deloitte US CEO Joe Ucuzoglu said:

“In an environment of increasing complexity and an accelerated pace of technology-driven change around the globe, Deloitte’s unrivaled breadth of expertise within our multidisciplinary model continues to differentiate us in the marketplace. This is an environment that places increasing value on diversity of thought and interdisciplinary solutions, playing directly to our strengths. Amidst transformative advances in technology and a dynamic economic and geopolitical landscape, our people take great pride in upholding the public’s trust and helping clients and communities successfully navigate many of the most complex challenges of our time.”

There’s a whole lot of bullshit in the press release after that, I mean A LOT. We get it, you guys navigated a difficult talent market, rising interest rates, cheap clients, and technological diSRupTiON. Calm down, everyone did.

Deloitte’s business success is underpinned by our commitment to embedding our purpose—to make an impact that matters—in everything we do. We also draw strength from our multidisciplinary model, which brings together the breadth and depth of experience and capabilities across our global organization to address both the near- and long-term forces reshaping business and society. This integrated approach enables us to bring our purpose to life and deliver significant impact for our stakeholders.

Note the above is a thinly veiled jab at EY.

The self-fellating gibberish keeps going in the revenue by service line breakdown.

Among Deloitte’s businesses, Consulting revenue grew fastest at 19.1% in local currency, followed by Risk Advisory, which grew 17.5%. Among the regions, the Americas grew the fastest at 17.5%, followed by EMEA at 12.6%.

Consistent with the critical importance to society of the work we do across our practices, we strive to execute with the highest ethics and integrity and set the standard for quality in everything we do.

Can you please stop.

Audit & Assurance continued its commitment to delivering high-quality audits with integrity and professionalism and upholding Deloitte’s vital role in the effective functioning of the capital markets. Our practitioners have supported organizations in navigating the changing landscape of stakeholder needs for more holistic reporting on their business model resilience and broader societal objectives. We delivered a broad range of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) services, including materiality and gap readiness assessment, disclosure preparation, and assurance. We have been recognized for our leading-edge technology and innovative culture, with Deloitte Omnia’s ESG capabilities receiving recognition as a data-fueled solution that helps us transform ESG information into insights for clients and deliver with greater quality, effectiveness, efficiency, and perspective. Audit & Assurance revenue grew 13.8% in local currency.

OK you know what, I’m not doing this. Here are the revenue growth numbers by service line without the sales pitch. As mentioned above, consulting continues to carry the team to a W.

• Consulting: 19.1%
• Risk Advisory: 17.5%
• Audit & Assurance: 13.8%
• Financial Advisory: 4.7%
• Tax and Legal: 9.1%

After a bunch more self-congratulatory fluff, Deloitte wraps the press release by noting its 2023 Global Impact Report will be released later this year. Here’s last year’s if you’re blocked up and need something to read. Oh and the workforce expanded to approximately 457,000 people globally, it was 411,951 at the end of FY22. That number would have been slightly higher but Deloitte US laid off 1,200 people in April.

PwC or EY should be next out of the gate with revenue results. Will Deloitte continue to take the crown as the biggest baller of the Big 4? Probably. EY’s definitely not coming for them.

The post Deloitte Global Smashed Revenue Records Again appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte UK has officially announced its new ‘future of work’ office in Edinburgh, Scotland, ‘future of work’ in scare quotes being their choice not ours. The new digs are 16,383 sq ft of space at 9 Haymarket Square, a new, mixed-use development that includes “Grade A offices, a 349 bed 4-star hotel and a mix of eateries all arranged around a public square.” And 433 people in green T-shirts soon, too.

The obligatory press release says the new space was created with the demands of staff in mind:

The new space was designed in response to what Deloitte’s people have asked for, after a Deloitte people survey found that 86% of respondents ranked ‘collaborating with team colleagues’ and ‘interacting with others’ within their top three ways they envisage using the office.

“Watching YouTube in the bathroom” and “staring into an infinite Excel sheet wishing I’d gone to trade school” probably weren’t on the survey.

Douglas Farish, office senior partner for Edinburgh at Deloitte, said: “We listened to our people and incorporated what they wanted into the design of our new Edinburgh office. The way we deliver work for our clients has evolved, so we needed to rethink our office environment based on how, when, and where we want to work to deliver the best for our clients’ needs. We’ve created a very open and welcoming space for our people and clients, and it really is a physical manifestation of our culture – a place for collaboration, connection and innovation.”

As for the features:

With its open and transparent floors, the new space was designed to create opportunities for people to build relationships and work together in an inclusive way. State-of-the-art technology, including 360-degree cameras and adjustable height desks, create an inclusive meeting experience for all, allowing for a seamless connection to those working away from the office, to ensure everyone has an equal voice in meetings.

The new office has also introduced ‘dancing’ walls in the collaboration spaces that double as interactive screens to allow for easy presenting and workshops.

“We’re not mandating a set number of days in the office,” said the senior partner. “Instead, we trust our people to manage their working week between client site, the office and home – and the new technology will enable seamless connection between our people and clients wherever they choose to work. The configuration of the space, and the variety in the style and size of its rooms, allows those using it to be agile and productive, and creates environments that are easily adaptable for multiple use cases and changing business needs.”

“Sustainability and people wellbeing” were also key considerations for the new office, said Deloitte. The interior design used low organic compounds (VOC) to reduce paint fume smells and that gross chemical smell that radiates off new furniture before the body oils and farts get to it. The building boasts more than 100 secure bike parking spaces as well as shower and changing facilities (important for a public accounting office and you all know why).

We would be remiss not to include this juicy quote they grabbed from a new hire who is going to go far in this business:

Kitty Milnes, a graduate in Deloitte’s Risk Advisory practice, commented on what the new office means to her: “I am amazed at this office, it’s so different to how I imagined a professional services office to look. There are loads of collaboration spaces which suits my style of team working, and I can now swap between sitting and standing at the adjustable height desks.

“There are so many textures and I love the sunflower seed eco cupboard doors and chain mail curtains. For those rare Scottish sunny days, there is also a lovely roof terrace, where our in-house beekeeper will be providing meet the bee sessions.

“This really is so much more than an office and I’m excited that my career has started at Deloitte Scotland.”

Deloitte has been busy working on fresh new spaces in the UK. They moved 600 people into a new “eco office” in Bristol and are soon to occupy a bigger space in Manchester that the firm says will help them grow the headcount at that office from 1,050 to 1,800 by 2025.

In 2022 they announced their first ‘future of work’ office, having recycled bits of that press release for this latest one.

The Newcastle office has been designed in response to what Deloitte’s people have asked for.

A Deloitte people survey revealed that 81% of respondents anticipate working from a Deloitte office for up to two days a week. The research also showed that 96% of Deloitte’s people want to have the freedom to choose how flexibly they will work. In addition, 86% of respondents ranked ‘collaborating with team colleagues’ and ‘interacting with others’ within their top three ways they envisage using the office – all of which formed the main design principles.

YOU ASKED FOR THIS.

Pics. Don’t try to click on them, it’s not a slideshow.

Deloitte opens ‘future of work’ designed office in Edinburgh [Deloitte]

The post Let’s Check Out Deloitte UK’s New ‘Future of Work’ Office appeared first on Going Concern.

Here are the key findings from “Cultivating employee engagement in financial services,” specific to financial services institutions but no doubt applicable across offices everywhere (and certainly those belonging to people with Deloitte.com email addresses). TL;DR: Overall survey results indicate that financial services institutions (FSIs) with overly strict in-office mandates could face dual challenges: possibly losing their pipeline of leaders and having difficulty recruiting talent. Caregivers are particularly sensitive to RTO mandates and more likely to leave their company if forced back into the office.

Strict return-to-office mandates could impact retention. Among leaders surveyed who work remotely at least part of the time, 66% say it’s likely they’d leave their current job if their company required them to return to the office five days a week.

Caregivers are more likely to be affected by return-to-offices mandates. Leaders with caregiving responsibilities surveyed were 1.3 times more likely than non-caregivers to say they’d leave their organization if their company eliminated their ability to work remotely.

Leaders surveyed prefer flexible work arrangements over prescribed workplace models. Some financial services institutions now require their workforce to go into the office three to four days a week. However, only 18% of respondents say this would be their ideal arrangement.

While remote working has improved engagement and well-being, most surveyed leaders believe it will put them at a disadvantage. Among leaders with hybrid work arrangements, 62% of respondents say they would prefer to work remotely more often but feel it would be bad for their career.

Financial services institutions may face a shrinking pipeline of future female leaders in the years to come. Almost half (45%) of women respondents in senior leadership roles report being likely to leave their current employer over the next year.

Deloitte got their info from 700 US mid- to executive-level financial services professionals—manager-level through senior leadership just below the C-suite—from many of the largest US FSIs. “Our respondents are meant to represent the future of financial services leadership: ‘next-generation leaders’ are manager level, and ‘senior leaders’ are EVPs, SVPs, or equivalent or lines of business leaders; some are just one step away from the C-suite,” they said. “As such, our respondents should represent the leadership pipeline at many of the largest US financial services firms.” Millennials and Gen X made up 91% of the survey population.

Since some leaders respond better to visual learning, let’s throw a few helpful graphs in here.

Says Deloitte in its advice to leadership:

Take small steps. Any significant changes to the current working arrangements may be met with strong opposition. Starting with lesser number of days in office, before ramping them up, would allow employees time to soak in the benefits of an in-office environment. Our survey indicates a clear preference for 1–2 in-office days a week over 3–4 days. In some cases, employers are offering a combination of flex and core hours, where all employees are expected to work during specific hours (e.g., 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), with full flexibility for remainder of the day. Offering team-based decisions on workplace arrangements is another option. This approach can empower employees to voice their flexibility preferences while still committing to the needs of the team.

On that note: 4-6pm is now “a dead zone” for many workers. People are logging out early, running errands, picking their kids up, taking a quick nap, and then logging back in later to finish their day. This explains why there are now so many people at the grocery store right at 4 o’clock.

More than one-third of respondents (38%) said having opportunities to connect with leaders above their level could positively impact their work experience so Deloitte suggests instituting regular live, in-office sessions with leadership. Almost four in 10 respondents said they’d like more learning and development opportunities, in-person, role-based, or business-specific training programs are one way to get those people in the office with something that benefits them more than the nebulous promise of “collaboration” pro-RTO leaders have been trotting out for years.

Ultimately it’s both a personal and practical choice if a return-to-office mandate sends someone back out into the job market. People without as many responsibilities at home might be less insistent on leaving but they appear to be just as unwilling to come into the office for what they consider to be too many days a week. Leaders are advised to tread carefully and ask themselves if it’s worth it to lose your best people over a couple extra days a month under the fluorescent lights.

Cultivating employee engagement in financial services [Deloitte]

The post In Shocking Blow to Pro-Office Leadership, People Will Quit If You Force Them Back Into the Office appeared first on Going Concern.

The details:

Many of the MBAs hired by Deloitte, one of the world’s biggest accounting and financial advisory firms, have been informed that their onboarding with the company will be delayed until January or February 2024, or in some cases later in the spring. This comes after some start dates were already pushed back from July to August.

Deloitte, which employs more than 100,000 globally, joins the MBB firms — McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain — in delaying new hire start dates this year. MBAs at other top firms, including Accenture and Ernst and Young, also report receiving deferments in the last three to four weeks, according to information provided to Poets&Quants and commentary on message boards at Reddit.

A couple threads from the last month on r/deloitte:

Start Date Delays: Fall 2023
Delayed start date Advisory to from August to Jan 2024
Odds of start date being pushed even further back?
I just received communication that my fall 23’ start date has been delayed to late winter 24’ over 6 months. What are the chances I even have a job in February?

And our favorite, Incoming campus hires’ delayed start date meme dump:

Incoming campus hires’ delayed start date meme dump
by u/ejburritos in deloitte

More from P&Q:

Frustration abounds, according to a colleague of some MBAs from a top-50 business school who had been slated to start at Deloitte this month, partly because of the late notice: Most of the new hires whose start dates have been pushed back by five or more months did not learn of their fate until early to mid-July. In comparison, the MBB firms informed their delayed hires back in March and April.

“Some of those people were set to start within a week or two, and many had just signed leases in expensive cities like NY and Chicago,” the classmate tells P&Q. “Most Deloitte MBA hires didn’t find out a start date until the end of May or June, and it appears those were not serious. It does not reflect well on them and I know many students are incredibly frustrated if not downright angry. But what can they do? They have them in a vice that is made up of tuition reimbursement, signing bonus, and relocation help.”

Remember kids, the firm doesn’t care about you. Look out for yourself.

The post Deloitte Is Delaying Start Dates. Again. appeared first on Going Concern.

Everyone, meet Team Deloitte. These 25 elite athletes – among them 19 Deloitte professionals along with a few Deloitte alumni and sponsored athletes — are training to qualify for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024. What an incredibly creative and difficult way to get out of busy season.

I do have something negative to say about Deloitte’s announcement and that is “oh my God give me a break.”

Many retired Olympians and Paralympians have come to Deloitte for their post-competitive careers and are using the qualities and skills it takes to be an elite athlete performing at the highest levels to thrive at Deloitte.

The IOC announcement has the athletes’ photos and their roles at Deloitte, lots of analysts and consultants in here. Deloitte also has the full roster.

Tiffany Leung, Paris 2024 hopeful in Breaking and Senior Consultant at Deloitte Canada says Breaking and Deloitte actually vibe well. “I always thought that Breaking and Deloitte were two completely different worlds, and that I would have to choose one to excel and advance in. I almost considered giving up my Olympic ambitions but decided to reach out to Deloitte for potential support. Now with Deloitte’s support, I can continue to advance my career while pursuing my dreams outside of work. Deloitte and Breaking share a lot of synergies and the skills that I learned in the professional world are transferrable to Breaking. They both require the same level of excellence, perseverance, dedication, and passion,” she said. Breakdancing (“Breaking”) was added to the 2018 Youth Olympics and is making its Olympic Games debut at Paris 2024.

Here’s what IOC has to say about Team Deloitte:

Featuring an exciting blend of seasoned stars and promising newcomers, the Team Deloitte roster includes 12 Olympians and four Paralympians, as well as a host of athletes who are vying for their first appearances at the Olympic or Paralympic Games. The diverse line-up features athletes from across the world, representing 14 countries in 15 different sports – from rowing, para canoeing, hockey and sailing to the new Olympic sport of breaking.

With 19 of the company’s professionals represented, the selection of Team Deloitte for Paris 2024 marks the first time that a Worldwide Olympic Partner has been able to support so many of its own employees on their journey to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Over the years, thirty-seven Deloitte professionals have participated in a combined seven summer and three winter editions of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, from Atlanta 1996 to Tokyo 2020. 16 medals — ten gold, four silver, and two bronze — have been earned by these professionals.

“As we look toward Paris 2024, we’re thrilled to introduce Team Deloitte, an extraordinary group of dual-career Deloitte professionals and elite athletes who exemplify the unique qualities required to succeed in both sport and business,” said Deloitte Global CEO Joe U. “.We are excited to support and celebrate their journey to qualify for Paris 2024.”

The post Team Deloitte is Ready to Kick Some Ass at the 2024 Olympics appeared first on Going Concern.

Australian Financial Review:

Deloitte is on target to become the largest of the big four consulting firms this financial year thanks to the collapse in revenue at its once-dominant rival PwC.

The firm’s annual income jumped more than 14 per cent to $2.85 billion in the year to May. [Ed. note: Deloitte Australia numbers only, obvs]

While PwC is still the larger firm, the devastating tax leaks scandal of the last financial year means it will be a much reduced outfit in 2023-24.

Deloitte’s strong result, driven mainly by its powerhouse consulting arm, comes as sector leaders adjust to a political environment poisoned by PwC’s tax scandal.

Deloitte reported global revenue of $59.3 billion for its last fiscal year ended May 2022, fiscal 2023 numbers for the global body should be out in September. Like all firms around the world, Deloitte saw a drop-off in consulting toward the end of last year (Gregorian, not fiscal) so picking up PwC’s contracts and clients would be a huge help to the bottom line.

Of that $2.85 billion ($1.9 billion USD) in revenue, consulting accounted for 21 percent. That’s nearly twice as much as the next highest category, Financial Advisory.

Recent events in our profession have clearly demonstrated the value of our longstanding commitment at Deloitte to maintaining strong standards of governance, ethics and integrity in all that we do. This is what our people, our clients and our stakeholders expect and demand.

[snip]

While we always strive to do the right thing, we know that no person or organisation is perfect – there is always room for improvement. We need to have the humility to listen, to learn from others, to consult when we are uncertain, and to never put self-interest ahead of what is the right thing to do. And when issues do occur, we will take open and honest accountability for what has happened. So, as we look ahead to FY24, we reinforce our commitment to serving our clients with distinction and providing our people with a world class talent experience, while continuing to recognise that trust is at the heart of our brand and is fundamental to how we should act and carry ourselves every day with our clients, our people and each other.

PwC Australia revenue numbers are expected in a few weeks, last year they saw total revenue of $3.0 billion and growth of 17%. Deloitte was already stealing the consulting crown before PwC’s scandalous behavior came to the surface this year, any real effect from clients severing their relationship with PwC due to the tax scandal and the selling off of PwC’s public sector consulting arm for a measly dollar won’t really show until next year’s figures.

The post Deloitte is Taking the PwC Tax Scandal Straight to the Bank appeared first on Going Concern.

The article is all about analytics so of course it starts with some data: The global networks of Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and PwC made a combined $189.6 billion in revenue in 2022 and employed 1.37 million people. That means of the more than 8 billion people on Earth, approximately 0.017% work for Big 4 firms (F). By service line, that $189.6 billion in revenue breaks down to:

• Tax and Legal 21%
• Audit and Assurance 29%
• Consulting 50%

Off the top of my head I can think of several pundits who will have something to say about that consulting number and it will not be complimentary.

LSM then links to a 2019 Quartz article about US audit quality, you don’t need to read it but you definitely need to see this caption:

When that article was written in 2019, the PCAOB had levied just $6.5 million in fines against Big 4 accounting firms total in the 16 years since it rose up from the ashes of Enron like a bureaucratic phoenix. In 2022 alone, the PCAOB disclosed 29 disciplinary actions, up 61% from the prior year, and levied penalties of almost $10.5 million, an increase of nearly 10x from 2021 [Cornerstone Research report]. Why did we go off on that tangent? No idea, the article started it.

So here’s what Law Street Media found when they dug into Big 4 federal litigation numbers. Cases have been fairly consistent since 2019, they said, noting there is some evidence that cases peaked in 2020. Of the total cases, Deloitte came in at 105 while their competitors had about 40 each. The table below shows a case breakdown by type and number across the four firms.

So about those cases:

Regarding the nature of these suits, the most common types have been 442 Civil Rights – Jobs and 850 Securities, Commodities, Exchange with 28 cases each, though 14 of the former have been appealed to the circuit courts, while only 5 of the latter have been so appealed. The Civil Rights Jobs cases are the fairly usual mix of plaintiffs alleging wrongful treatment based on their gender, age, or race. Half of these 442 cases targeted Deloitte.

The Securities, Commodities, Exchange cases, on the other hand, do not directly target the big four. Instead, with one notable exception, these cases allege various companies committed securities fraud and that the big four were ostensibly complicit in that they provided supposedly false or misleading audits.

The one notable exception is Securities and Exchange Commission v. MintBroker International, Ltd. et al. In this case, the Securities and Exchange Commission shut down and forced into receivership MintBroker for being an unregistered broker-dealer. As part of the litigation, Guy Gentile, the owner of MintBroker, sued EY and others for allegedly intentionally driving his company into bankruptcy.

The third most common Nature of Suit code is 791 Employee Retirement Income Security Act. These cases concern individuals suing primarily Deloitte, alleging their retirement fund is not properly handling their savings.

Let’s all congratulate Deloitte for taking home yet another #1.

Analytics Reveal Litigation Trends for Big Four Accounting Firms [Law Street]

The post Which Big 4 Firm Gets Sued the Most in Federal Court? Deloitte By a Long Shot appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte just admitted that yes, yes they did. But they did not elaborate.

The Guardian:

Another big four consultancy firm has confirmed it misused government information last year, widening a scandal that has engulfed global giant PwC.

Deloitte disclosed the breach as part of an ongoing Senate inquiry, but has so far refused to provide any more details about the incident due to client confidentiality.

The firm has also detailed how it was dumped by the Home Affairs department after it failed to disclose a conflict of interest. A similar breach was also identified while working with the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO).

According to Deloitte’s admission, the firm misused confidential or proprietary information on 18 occasions two years ago and nine in the last fiscal year so hey, they’re getting better. They did not provide details, it’s safe to assume the Australian Senate will extract it from them, Guantanamo-style if they have to.

The firm gave a cagey answer about how conflicts will be handled, an answer that is unlikely to satisfy governing bodies. “Any matters in relation to the misuse of confidential government information would be investigated in line with our normal processes,” said Deloitte’s response to questions from the committee. “Consequences would vary depending on the findings of our internal investigations and, as with any misconduct, these consequences include disciplinary actions in accordance with our policies, which apply to both partners and employees.”

One conflict Deloitte seemed up to talking about was its contract with the ANAO to audit a government agency’s ESG data at the same time Deloitte was engaged by that agency to audit its financials. “It was identified in August 2022 that Deloitte had not sought pre-approval from the ANAO to provide the service, as required under their independence and conflicts management policies,” Deloitte said.

Deloitte also mentioned an earlier conflict of interest issue involving the Australian Department of Home Affairs (not what it sounds like).

Deloitte also referred to the Home Affairs department terminating a contract after an investigation found “an organisational conflict of interest that was not disclosed to the department when it was engaged”.

According to an ANAO report published last month, Deloitte was advising the department on IT procurement. At the same time, a Deloitte partner was seconded to a company bidding for work with the department.

On March 10, 2021, a tenderer emailed the department through the RFT complaints process raising concerns about the appointment of Deloitte as commercial adviser. They stated that a senior partner from Deloitte was seconded [loaned out to] to the company to assist it with preparation of its tender bid. The tenderer sought confirmation from the department that ‘adequate conflict checks were carried out by the department’ and requested ‘urgent clarification on the avenue available to [it] to raise [its] concerns formally and to understand potential remediation’.

Deloitte’s engagement as the commercial adviser to Home Affairs was suspended in March 2021 and terminated on May 18, 2021. ANAO report on that. Please God don’t make me type ‘ANAO’ again because I’m positive I’ll miss the unfortunate typo.

Other than that though Deloitte said it was “not aware of any other significant conflict of interest matters relating to government work”. Whew, we can all go home now.

Deloitte was not as forthcoming about its partnership agreement, claiming it “contains sensitive information that could potentially present a commercial advantage to our competitors and prejudice our partnership.” PwC — remember, this is the firm that took confidential government information about a new tax avoidance law and tried to leverage it to charge clients for advice on avoiding said tax avoidance law — gave theirs to the committee previously with the caveat that the information stay private among the committee. The irony.

We’ll definitely keep you posted.

The post Deloitte Just Admitted to Misusing Government Information à la PwC Tax Scandal appeared first on Going Concern.

Published today in India’s business paper The Economic Times:

Deloitte plans to have around 30% of its workforce operating from India within the next four years, with an estimated total employee count ranging from 150,000 to 160,000, as the country figures prominently in the firm’s global growth plans, according to Romal Shetty, CEO, Deloitte South Asia.

Discuss.

The post Deloitte Plans to Have a Third of Its Workforce Operating From India Within the Next Four Years, Says South Asia CEO appeared first on Going Concern.

Let’s see what Deloitte has to say about this important issue:

Now in its second year, the survey revealed that employee well-being has worsened across all dimensions. For employers, the path forward will likely require a strong focus on delivering immediate impact but ultimately should shift toward a more long-term view — one that prioritizes people over profits. To achieve this, leaders should increase their support for their managers, and they also should hold themselves and their organizations more accountable.

C-suite executives surveyed for the “Advancing workforce well-being” report appear to be down with taking ownership of the issue. 85 percent feel organizations should be required to publicly report their well-being metrics, for example in their annual reporting; only half of them say their company is already doing this.

Key findings from the report, as summarized by the press release:

• Workforce well-being is declining, but, in general, employees feel that some executives don’t recognize this. Most employees feel their health worsened or stayed the same last year — only around one-third say their health improved. However, more than 3 in 4 C-suite leaders believe their workforce’s health improved.
• For some, work remains an obstacle to well-being. Eight in 10 respondents are struggling to improve their well-being, with a heavy workload and stressful job topping the list of obstacles they face. The result is that compared to last year, an even greater number of people — 60% of employees, 64% of managers, and 75% of the C-suite — say they’re seriously considering quitting for a job that would better support their well-being.
• Managers can play a pivotal role in employee well-being, but they’re lacking organizational support. Seven in 10 managers say obstacles like rigid company policies, a heavy workload, and an unsupportive workplace culture prevent them from doing more to support their team members. Only 42% feel completely empowered to help their company achieve its well-being commitments.
• Executives generally agree they should be more accountable. Eighty-five percent of the C-suite say they’ll become more responsible for workforce well-being over the next few years. Notably, 78% feel their company’s leaders should step down if they can’t maintain an acceptable level of workforce well-being, and 72% believe executives’ bonuses should be tied to workforce well-being metrics.
• Greater accountability should go hand-in-hand with public reporting. Eighty-five percent of executives believe organizations should be required to publicly report their workforce well-being metrics, but only around half are currently doing this. And while 84% of the C-suite we surveyed say their companies have made public well-being commitments, just 39% of employees feel the same way about their companies, indicating that leaders should elevate the visibility of these initiatives.
• Human sustainability is a way forward, but companies should step up their efforts. Organizations that are embracing this concept may be helping their employees become healthier, more skilled, and more connected to a sense of purpose and belonging, and they can also be supporting their suppliers and communities. However, while 89% of the C-suite say their company is advancing human sustainability, just 41% of employees agree.

The press release goes on to grab executives by the cheeks and warn them that if they don’t turn this around now, it could be bad for business.

With employee well-being worsening, it’s clear that organizations may be at a turning point right now. If they don’t act, workforce well-being may continue to decline, which could have a negative impact on retention for employees, managers, and executives.

Leaders have an opportunity to meet the moment and rewrite this story for a better tomorrow — not only for their employees, but for themselves as well. They should take greater accountability around matters of health and embrace a focus on human sustainability, and they should also do more to empower their managers. It may not be easy, but with the right support and the right mindset, real change could be possible.

“Leaders should be immensely concerned that work continues to be the primary reason why people are both physically and mentally unwell,” said Dan Schawbel, managing partner at Workplace Intelligence. “Employees need to be able to take time off and disconnect, and they shouldn’t be in a constant state of stress and exhaustion due to their jobs. Work can and should be compatible with well-being — and it’s up to leaders to deliver on that promise.”

Do…do they read these before they put them out? Goose, gander.

“Organizations have much to gain from metrics that can help them better understand and communicate about worker well-being,” added Jen Fisher, Deloitte’s U.S. chief well-being officer. “The majority of the leaders surveyed agree that sharing this information could build employee trust and help them attract talent. And while publicly disclosing these metrics may seem radical, it has a precedent with the evolution of environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting.”

“Our understanding of what it means to create and sustain value is shifting,” said Paul Silverglate, U.S. Executive Accelerators leader and Deloitte LLP’s technology sector vice chair. “We’re beginning to see how economic value is fundamentally intertwined with employee well-being and quality of life, and that’s why human sustainability should be at the top of every corporate agenda.”

Deloitte has been in the #1 revenue spot since they overtook PwC in 2016, coming in at a record $59.3 billion for fiscal 2022. So their employees must be doing great.

The post People Shouldn’t Be in a Constant State of Stress and Exhaustion Due to Their Jobs, Deloitte Report Unironically Says appeared first on Going Concern.

Neerabh Mehrotra, formerly Associate Director at Deloitte India, has been let go after he gushed over Adolf Hitler’s charisma, intelligence, and confidence on LinkedIn. The post:

Text transcription, courtesy Google Lens:

Friday Inspiration
Recently I picked up a book on Adolf Hitler “The Dark Charisma of Adolf Hitler” by Laurence Rees. I always wanted to read about Hitler and the World War II and this book gave me a fair understanding about these topic.

Although, this book narrated lot of stories about Hitler and how he become the Chancellor of Germany. If you search him on Google, it will say, he was an autocratic leader, very egocentric, un-empathic, ruthless, aggressive, tough-minded, in fact many people believed that he was a psycho and needed a medical assistant.

One of his key personality traits was that he couldn’t tolerate any discussion/ debate/argument and he used to get annoyed if anyone interrupt or try to deliberate on any topic with him. He lived most of his life alone, never allowed anyone to get closure to him, had no family or friends either.

However, there are several charismatic qualities he had, and we all should learn from him.

Some of the imperative qualities of Hitler were.
1. Charismatic Visionary
2. Magnetic Speaker 3. Extremely Confident
4. Very Intellectual
5. Massive Action Taker

As the Nazis salute says “Heil Hitler!”

Would you like to add anything about Adolf Hitler?

#people #inspiration #leader #adolfhitler

When I first came across this story on Jewish Chronicle I had to Google to make sure I wasn’t about to eat the onion. Alas it’s real, there’s a whole discussion on r/deloitte, it appeared on the compendium of all LinkedIn lunacy r/LinkedInLunatics (many, many times in the last several days), and even VICE wrote about it. So I’m late, clearly.

A post on r/deloitte two days ago said he was still at Deloitte however a spokesperson at the firm told JC he doesn’t work there anymore. “The views on social media expressed by the individual, who joined our organization last month, are not aligned with our shared values and violate our internal policies,” said a firm spokesperson. “This individual no longer works for Deloitte India.”

Comment
by u/Fantastic_Form3607 from discussion Anyone have an update on the Associate Director at Deloitte that was praising Nazis and saying Heil Hitler?
in deloitte

There’s also an apology, though it appears it couldn’t salvage the pieces of his career shattered in a single social media post. On his now-disappeared LinkedIn he posted this apology letter (with two exclamation points!!):

Text:

Open Apology Letter!!

Dear LinkedIn Professionals,

This is an open apology letter to each one of you whose sentiments/feelings were hurt because of my recent post on “Hitler”.

Honestly, I had no intention to hurt anyone’s feeling instead I was just trying to share my learnings from the book. It is like any other post I have written in the past, but I agree, I should have been more careful.
My mentors/coaches/bosses have always taught me that if I make a mistake then I should have an audacity accept it as well so here I come forward to sincerely apologize for my post and I will not write anything about such personalities in the future.

I would also like to clarify that this was my personal opinion, and it has nothing to do with my race, religion, country or the organizations I am associated with at the moment or in the past.

On this platform, we all are professionals, and we keep sharing and learning for each other and some time we do make mistakes, retrospect and improvise it so I request you to forgive me, disregard the distraction I had created and continue our growth journey with full force.

Appreciate your consideration and support.

Thank you, Neerabh

Apparently the guy has a YouTube channel on which he describes himself as “Intraprenuer’s Holistic Success Coach.” There’s not much on there but this one aged particularly well.

This guy definitely will never work in this town again.

Deloitte director who called Hitler ‘charismatic visionary’ no longer works at the company [Jewish Chronicle]

The post Deloitte Risk Advisory Associate Director Who Praised Hitler on LinkedIn No Longer Works at Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

Although the press release you will find right after this sentence does not mention the firm by name, it seems Stephens started his career at EY way back in 1987 and stuck it out for almost ten years before heading to AT&T.

Deloitte’s Chief Tax Officer Program aims to help both rising and established tax leaders successfully take on new challenges and seize opportunities that come from change and uncertainty. Deloitte’s deep tax knowledge, multidisciplinary business experience and vast resources empower, connect and inform tax executives in distinct and meaningful ways. The program supports tax leaders at all stages of their careers, inspiring them to lead with confidence.

As the new CTO-In-Residence, Stephens will help drive meaningful impact through a wide-ranging scope of responsibilities. He will serve as a speaker and facilitator at Deloitte’s Strategic Tax Conference and other events, mentor CTOs through Deloitte’s Tax Executive Transition Labs and help develop the next generation of tax leaders through Deloitte Tax Academies. Further, he will advise on a broad range of meaningful issues, including business model transformation, stakeholder management, ESG, DEI and leadership in a virtual environment.

“Whether directing large corporate tax departments or leading small in-house teams, today’s chief tax officers share common challenges,” said Carrie Falkenhayn, partner, Chief Tax Officer Program leader, Deloitte Tax LLP. “With over 25 years at the world’s largest telecommunications company, Paul brings a unique perspective to today’s most pressing tax issues, and we are thrilled to share his deep experience and insights with our clients as Deloitte’s new Chief Tax Officer-in-Residence.”

“Deloitte has a market-leading reputation for excellence and quality, and I look forward to becoming an integral part of its CTO Program. I hope to enhance the overarching positioning of the CTO function, collaborate with senior leadership, mentor staff and deliver value to clients,” said Paul Stephens, independent senior advisor, U.S. CTO Program, Deloitte Tax LLP. “Deloitte’s CTO Program leverages the organization’s deep tax knowledge, experience and resources to help tax executives advance their leadership and tax strategy capabilities. I am thrilled to move into this next phase of my career and help established and aspiring tax directors seize new opportunities, add strategic value to their organizations, and advance their careers.”

Prior to his time with Deloitte, Stephens spent the past 25 years at AT&T where he served in several senior leadership roles until his retirement in October 2022. Most recently, he led a 450-person team responsible for about $22 billion in annual taxes. Stephens also played a critical role in developing and advocating positions on legislative and regulatory tax matters, including the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act, as well as in resolving significant income tax audit issues. Before joining AT&T, Stephens developed his tax expertise during his 10 years working in the tax practice of another major accounting firm.

Stephens is a strong supporter of his community and the development of others. He served as a mentor for AT&T Women of Finance for several years and currently serves as an Executive Board Member of Communities in Schools Dallas Region.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Millikin University and a Juris Doctorate from Washington University School of Law. Stephens is a member of the AICPA and a member of the Illinois and Missouri State Bar Associations.

Deloitte Names Former AT&T Senior Vice President of Tax, Paul Stephens, as New ‘Chief Tax Officer-in-Residence’ [PR Newswire]

The post Deloitte Picks Up an EY Alum As Chief Tax Officer-in-Residence appeared first on Going Concern.

Our favorite Aussie professional services expert Edmund Tadros at Australian Financial Review has written about Deloitte and EY bringing more than 800 warm bodies into the country to staff areas like audit and cybersecurity where talent is scarce. Let’s see what he said.

The firms have welcomed the changes to the visa system proposed by the federal government last week aimed at simplifying and speeding up the process, even though recruitment and immigration experts warn it could lead to more ‘job hopping’ by sponsored workers.

“We have hired 447 employees from overseas in the past year,” said Tina McCreery, Deloitte’s chief human resources officer.

”Of these, 195 were from other Deloitte member firms and 252 were external. In addition to this, we had 207 employees spend time with us on short-term secondments from overseas Deloitte member firms.”

Ms McCreery said the firm hires globally when it cannot find specific skills in Australia.

“We go overseas to hire talent which is not readily available onshore in hot skill/high-demand areas such as audit, cyber [security], technology-based professions.”

I appreciate Edmund adding [security] in brackets to “cyber” because I’m old and that word means something completely different to me as a child of 90s AOL chatrooms.

Australia is evidently suffering from “the West’s second-worst employee shortage after Canada” due in part to severe Covid-19 restrictions that put its borders under lock and key, keeping out not only the virus but the many skilled migrants the country is in search of. On the government’s list of nearly 100 in-demand occupations are accountants (specifically general accountants, tax accountants, and management accountants), auditors (internal and external), corporate treasurers, actuaries, economists, and management consultants. We’re just gonna go ahead and leave the accountant listing here for anyone here in ‘Murica looking to make a break for it.

Linda Rowe, Asia Pacific Global Immigration Lead at EY, totally supports a redesign of skilled immigration that would mean getting away from the occupation list and focusing instead on in-demand skills. “The move away from occupation lists to evidenced based assessments of skills is long overdue,” she said. “These new foundations will be designed to strategically focus on attracting skills and integrating migration policy with labour market strategy and the training and education system.” A good example of why the system needs to change is the fact that “data analyst” doesn’t appear anywhere on the list. In the U.S., 42.7% of new hires at accounting firms do not have accounting degrees, and even that number is based on data lagging a few years behind from current day. Safe to say accounting firms are fighting each other for any skilled data analysts they can get their hands on.

“In the last 12 months we have hired 360 people from international markets, and more than 200 of these were employed by EY member firms around the globe before joining EY Australia,” said Rowe. “More than 60 per cent of these international hires were for our Assurance practice.” [Note: we have similar auditor demand over here where 66% of accounting graduates are put in audit as new hires.] EY is facing pretty much the same problems everyone else is with too much work and not enough skilled talent, she said in not those exact words.

Here’s a good read from ABC News (theirs not ours) on the long overdue skilled immigration changes, the TL;DR is:

The government argues Australia’s most important methods to bring necessary and skilled workers are mired in bureaucratic problems.

For example, the occupation codes used on the back-end of Australia’s migration, tax and other systems have not been added to since 2013.

There are jobs in Australia today facing labour shortages that did not exist when the code was last updated.

The minister wants to do away with those “outdated, inflexible” lists, and instead give Jobs and Skills Australia the authority to determine what occupations are in need.

Question is where are firms finding this spare talent? Don’t the member firms they’re getting people from need them too?

Deloitte, EY sponsor 800+ overseas workers amid skills shortage [AFR]

The post Talent-Strapped Down Under Deloitte and EY Are Importing Staff appeared first on Going Concern.

Fellow accounting firm BDO currently has 12,945 square feet of space on the third floor of Building II. There is 91,000 sq ft of retail space at the compound as well with attractions like an “elevated sports lounge,” a “tiki tequilería,” a coffee roaster, a plant-based luxury candle company, and a hair salon, among others.

“We are excited to welcome Deloitte to UnCommons,” said Matter’s VP of strategic partnerships Tom van Betten in a news release. “Delivering both in-demand office space and rich amenities, UnCommons continues to be the destination of choice for leading companies that are prioritizing the modern workplace experience.”

Deloitte’s current Las Vegas address is 3883 H, Howard Hughes Pkwy Suite 400. For some reason the office has terrible Google reviews.

“The $1 billion project is designed to fulfill the modern workforce’s desire for a workplace that enhances their lives through rich amenities, open space and connectivity,” reads a fact sheet on UnCommons’ website. Swinging by the UnCommons site, we also find this:

We look forward to seeing what the firm does with the space when they move in.

The post Deloitte Inked a Deal For 14,000 Square Feet of Brand New Office Space in Las Vegas appeared first on Going Concern.

A LinkedIn search shows 331 crypto-y roles at Deloitte, almost all of them posted last week. Blockworks’ job hunter says the other Big 4 — you know who they are — show zero. How can that be, with EY’s affection for blockchain? (It’s not. EY has a couple blockchain gigs posted on Google Jobs in the last week)

Deloitte’s crypto titles include:

• Blockchain & Digital Assets Manager (97 US locations)
• Tax Manager, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency (18 US locations)
• Tax Manager, Blockchain & Cryptocurrency in NFTs (three US locations)

Why is Deloitte jumping on this train now? And why so many roles?

Doing a quick check on Google Jobs, it doesn’t seem that Deloitte is looking for 97 different blockchain managers (GL with that) but rather putting the same job posting in multiple locales.

Easily finding the one near me, the job description explains their motive nicely (from the Blockchain & Digital Assets Manager position in Falls Church, VA):

We are expanding Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance Blockchain & Digital Assets practice. We are seeking professionals who want to build off their existing audit knowledge or accounting experience and use such knowledge on exciting audit and advisory projects that add great value to our clients within their finance, accounting, and operation departments. From digital asset technical accounting issues to new standard implementations; from complex transaction support to internal controls specific to blockchain and digital assets, the leaders of our practice will help you expand your experience base to further develop your career. At Deloitte, we provide services using an approach designed to provide the flexibility to serve the unique circumstances and complexities of our clients. You’ll gain exposure to a variety of industries, business models and financial accounting areas, helping your career growth and professional development.

A few more we found:

• Blockchain & Digital Assets Senior Manager (McLean)
• Blockchain & Digital Assets Senior (Arlington)

No associate blockchain jobs. Sorry, associates.

Does Deloitte suddenly have 331 crypto openings? Doubt. But we did find out they’re expanding the blockchain practice!

The post Deloitte Suddenly Placed a Bunch of Crypto Job Ads? appeared first on Going Concern.

I just met with my coach and although I was rated as strong in all categories, the firm has decided to defer my promotion for 1 year. I am 2nd year analyst up for promo to C. I had been told this whole time that promo to C is basically automatic. Coach shared the due diligence feed back with me and nothing bad was listed. I really don’t understand what I did wrong. He doesn’t know either. Came in as exp hire as well, so the title demotion was already a bit of a shock. GPS consulting HC 93k. Hired June 2021.

He did just say that As who haven’t hit the 2 year mark are less likely to be promoted this round cause the firm is worried about not having enough analysts since they aren’t hiring as many. But idk if I believe that.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Edit to add: current utilization over 100%. December utilization was 88%.

According to our tipster, there are “several known instances” of coaches having told their coachees that promotion was inevitable. “Today [yesterday], several of these employees had their promotions clawed back due to a ‘final screening process’ that office PPMDs and coaches did not have insight to.” Our tipster doesn’t know if any senior manager promo candidates were affected, telling us the people they know of were up for consultant, senior, or manager in both risk and financial advisory and consulting.

Numerous people have reported similar experiences, and these aren’t burnouts we’re talking about.

Yes, happened to me too. Util 95%, 100% this year. Higher end for all categories, recommendations from leaders, many strong impacts, etc. Coach said he heard promos were limited due to how the business is performing

And:

Welcome to the party. I was also not promoted. Experienced hire within EP. 5 years of experience. Onboarded as an analyst w/ promotion timeline of 2023. Coach states, likely event is economic uncertainty. He also stated if I had joined a year earlier, my results would have definitely allowed me to get promoted. I’m bummed but, life goes on.

Client work: Strong

Firm work: Exceptional

AND:

I don’t think it’s you’re [sic] coaches fault. Looks like alot of people are getting screwed with promos. Cost cutting and difficulty staffing the higher up you go.

Conspiracy time:

Most likely a tactic to get people to voluntarily leave especially if there was no negative feedback.

I think it’s to get people to voluntarily leave tbh. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the case

Only days ago, Deloitte announced layoffs of 3% (1200 people) on a Risk & Financial Advisory all-hands call but the firm insists that overall client demand remains strong. “As growth in select practices moderates, we are taking modest personnel actions where necessary,” said Jonathan Gandal, managing director of Deloitte Services to FOX Business.

Audit and Tax promotion announcements have not been made yet.

The post What TF Is Going on With Deloitte Promotions? appeared first on Going Concern.

According RFA All Hands: 3% of RFA will be laid off, most of which will be in Commercial, between now and June
by u/MaizeNBlueWaffle in deloitte

Comment
by u/LoyalWingman from discussion Layoffs update
in deloitte

In a panic, someone else asked if cuts are expected elsewhere and a total stranger on the internet assured them no.

No. That was an RFA specific call and they said 3% from RFA and 1.5% from firm wide.

Audit isn’t going to have layoffs and tax probably won’t either. So to get to 1.5% that means the major cuts are going to be from advisory and consulting.

Watch that utlilization and stay safe, kids.

Update: According to a FOX Business report, a Deloitte spokesperson said the firm’s U.S. businesses continue to experience strong client demand. “As growth in select practices moderates, we are taking modest personnel actions where necessary,” added Jonathan Gandal, managing director of Deloitte Services. The total number of jobs Deloitte plans to cut is around 1200.

The post Layoff Watch ’23: Deloitte Makes Some Cuts in Risk & Financial Advisory (UPDATE) appeared first on Going Concern.

Therese are nothing when compared to Deloitte’s planned RTO announcement which has a tentative announcement date of the Tuesday after Memorial Day. 75% in office for tax, and 100% in office for those below manager without engagement partner approval to work from home.

It’ll be interesting to see who decides to leave once the partner group and HR announce them formally.

I don’t know who Therese is but she might want to start looking for a new job if she wants to stay remote.

Note that Deloitte has “Collective Disconnect” for Memorial Day, meaning everyone gets a little extra time to unplug. Then after they are all nice and recharged, break it to them that they are expected in the office for reasons that will no doubt be explained as vaguely as possible, ultimately pinning it on “collaboration” and teamwork. 100% seems extreme though.

There’s a brewing paranoia about RTO plans that appear to be materializing at the same time across firms and various industries. Depending who you ask or what magic combination of words you input into Google, either 90% of companies will require employees to return to office in 2023 and 21% of companies will fire workers who do not return to the office OR return-to-office mandates at companies like Amazon, Disney, and Starbucks are the exception, not the rule and only 3% of CEOs plan to cut down on remote work at their companies. Accompanying the RTO mandates have been layoffs, bringing us back to the possibility of firms deploying RTO mandates with the intention to reduce headcount without the icky press that comes from more straightforward layoffs (‘sup EY).

TB4A was tipped off a couple months ago to a return to office in tax but other than that there hasn’t been much said about Deloitte’s RTO plans, if there are any. Let you know if we find out more.

The post Guess We Should Discuss Deloitte’s RTO Plans appeared first on Going Concern.

In an April 4 press release, Deloitte announced a formal space practice “to connect organizations in rapidly growing global space ecosystem.” That’s obviously a direct quote from the release.

Here are the takeaways, cleanly laid out in bullet point form:

• Deloitte Space is an end-to-end professional services practice dedicated to advising organizations on the full possibilities of space, from strategic advisory and assurance services to deploying and operating space systems and services.
• Builds on 15 years of space work across public and private sector clients, including government organizations, top aerospace and satellite companies, and other organizations that may stand to benefit from the opportunities space presents.
• Access to an integrated and globally connected network to help clients tap into the rapidly growing space sector, which is poised to impact everything from how we do business to how we improve our planet.

Like with EY’s push into commoditizing the great beyond, Deloitte points out that as a potential revenue source, space is like the virgin hills of Nevada pre-Gold Rush. There’s gold in them thar hills.

The space economy has become one of the fastest-growing sectors. Valued at roughly $400 billion today, the space economy has grown by over 60% in the last decade and is forecasted to grow to more than $1 trillion by 2040. This opportunity is being fueled by the maturing commercial launch industry and the proliferation of satellite services in low-Earth orbit (LEO) — a market expected to grow from $40 billion today to as much as $312 billion by 2035. These advancements appear to be lowering barriers-to-entry and creating new business models, unlocking further innovation that is driving additional social and economic benefits.

“The pace of innovation that we’re seeing in space is staggering,” said Nishita Henry, chief innovation officer, and principal at Deloitte Consulting. “The amount of investment pouring into space-related initiatives from governments, businesses and private investment is creating tremendous opportunities for companies approaching space as a mission, a business of today or a future business opportunity. Deloitte is marshalling the full breadth of global resources to help these organizations achieve their space ambitions.”

The post Deloitte Sets Its Sights on the Final Frontier appeared first on Going Concern.

Atlanta Business Chronicle reports Deloitte has not renewed its 260,000 square foot lease at 191 Peachtree according to loan documents reviewed by the Chronicle. It’s suspected that the firm is downsizing.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the market say Deloitte is eyeing Midtown. The firm will likely sign a deal in a Cousins Properties Inc. building, sources say, given its relationship with the developer. Deloitte serves as the independent accountant for Cousins. In May 2022, Deloitte signed a lease for just under 25,000 square feet at Central Perimeter’s 400 Northpark, according to data from real estate database CoStar Group.

The firm has occupied 260,000 sq. ft in the building since January 2008 when it upgraded from 100,000 sq. feet.

Two months ago, a protest turned to violence in Deloitte’s neighborhood after the death of an environmental activist, which you can read more about here. Deloitte shares a building with the Atlanta Police Foundation, a frequent target of protests. In January, protesters set a cop car on fire and threw rocks and fireworks at the 191 Peachtree Tower, leading Georgia governor Brian Kemp to declare a state of emergency.

Violent protests over long work weeks tonight at Atlanta’s Deloitte office
by u/titty_brain in Accounting

Google reviews for Deloitte Atlanta are not great, presumably because protesters keep coming in the office trying to solicit professional services.

As of right now, 191 Peachtree does not list Suite 2000 as up for grabs.

Deloitte could vacate longtime Downtown Atlanta offices [Atlanta Business Chronicle]

The post Looks Like Deloitte Is Ditching Its Downtown Atlanta Office appeared first on Going Concern.

Can’t embed it so you’ll have to head over to Deloitte.com to see the whole thing but I did transcribe the first two minutes up until he offered the TL;DR. Quick thank you to Joe for speaking clearly and slowly enough for my old arthritic fingers to keep up.

The success you’re driving is extraordinary and sitting at the foundation of that success is our multidisciplinary private partnership model. Our choice to keep this incredible breadth of expertise and capabilities together under one Deloitte umbrella. This is a topic with a lot of visibility right now. One of the other Big 4s is talking about structurally separating their organization. The complexities surrounding that have been in the press recently and some of their senior leaders are out suggesting not only do they think this is a good idea for them, but they think others in the Big 4 would want to do this also and that their path is the roadmap for reshaping the profession. That is a direct quote.

I’ve had conversations on this topic with so many partner groups around the world. And in light of all this public attention I thought it was important and timely to synthesize all those discussions to make sure all of you have access to the complete picture with full transparency. The strength of conviction we have in our model. The depth of thinking and analysis we’ve put into this. The alignment we have on this topic around the world. And some candid detailed answers to the questions that come up most often. And being that we’re in the business of trust and transparency, I’m gonna put this very same video up on our website. We are exceptionally proud of the Deloitte we’ve all collectively built, we are confident it is serving our stakeholders well.

Here comes the TL;DR:

For those who just want the short version, I will be unequivocal right up front. Our multidisciplinary model is allowing us to deliver incredible impact across so many different stakeholders. Our clients value the breadth and capabilities, our people value the diversity of career paths, the markets value the quality we deliver, and our communities value the impact that we make on so many big societal issues. This model is going to continue to be foundational to our strategy going forward. It has some complexities we have to manage, we invest a lot in doing that.

[short snip]

When you take a step back and you look at the power of our combined organization, the results speak for themselves.

The Guardian has better transcription capabilities than we do and added this:

He said: “History is littered with multiple examples of grand aspirations around these types of transactions that I’m sure sounded great and had pretty slide decks, lots of big promises. It’s easy to get swept up in deal fever but this has actually never once played out as intended.

“We’ve looked at how we go about a separation if we were ever compelled to go down that path. You’d expect us to have done that.”

Deloitte’s leadership has so far decided against splitting the business, however. “It’s not even a close call,” Ucuzoglu said.

Did someone say pretty slide decks with lots of big promises?

When the news of a potential EY split first broke late last spring, rumors immediately began flying that Deloitte would be next in line to break consulting off from audit. Whoever told the Wall Street Journal that information was obviously not as familiar with the matter as they purported to be, Deloitte quickly squashed the rumor.

Since then, various publications have repeated statements from Deloitte, KPMG, and PwC that no matter what happens with EY, they do not plan to split. Meanwhile, some of these firms are eagerly lurking in the wings hoping to poach talent abandoning ship before the split happens.

In the last several months, EY has pushed back the partner vote on the split, citing details in need of hammering out. Up until last week it appeared to be moving forward as planned despite these delays, and EY Global Managing Partner Andy Baldwin went so far as to say “our plan is that we will continue to what we call soft separation next year, and continue to start to run these two businesses separately, albeit they will continue to be part of the single enterprise of EY” in December when the legal details and market conditions were really beginning to hold things back. But just this week the cracks started to show and insiders say split discussions among partners are now plagued with “chaos”, “low morale” and “infighting.”

Said EY in a comment to The Guardian:

As part of our deliberation and due diligence in connection with the proposed transaction, we are engaging in a dialogue with the largest EY country member firms to determine the final shape of the transaction.

This transaction is complex and will be the roadmap for reshaping the profession, so it is important we get this right. We remain committed to the strategic rationale that underpins Project Everest and believe that a deal can and should be done.

This is getting juicy!

The post Deloitte Global CEO Joe Ucuzoglu Just Mic Dropped EY’s Messy Split Drama appeared first on Going Concern.

Vancouver Sun reports:

The tenant group — dubbed the Portland Tenants Union — also want residents who were removed from the hotel because the elevator wasn’t working to be allowed to return, now that it has been operational for a month.

The protest is part of a continuing dispute between tenants and the PHS. The Portland Hotel is the centrepiece of PHS’s 30 supportive-housing projects, with 87 self-contained units in a relatively modern building at 20 West Hastings St. It was built wheelchair accessible and around half of the residents have mobility issues.

On Feb. 7 the elevator was repaired, two days after past and present hotel residents and their advocates visited PHS headquarters at Carrall and Hastings demanding elevator service be restored.

According to a memo sent to Vancouver council in May 2022, the city does not have legal power to order building owners to help residents when elevators are out of service.

Some of the residents were unable to leave their dwellings for as long as five months, still others were injured when they tried to utilize the building stairs.

Banthia is PHS Community Services Society treasurer. Reads his bio:

Varun is a public servant and auditor with experience at the local, federal and international levels.

He holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a specialization in accounting from UBC, and a Master of Public Administration from New York University. He was also designated a Certified Internal Auditor in 2019. Varun has worked as an auditor with Vancouver Coastal Health and the United Nations, as a risk consultant with KPMG Ottawa, and in anti-corruption policy with the OECD. He is currently employed as a senior consultant at Deloitte, specializing in public sector risk and audit quality.

Varun is passionate about issues affecting vulnerable populations in Vancouver. He has served as a City Council advisor on disability access, on the board of the Dugout Drop-In Centre, and as a first responder at the Overdose Prevention Society. For his efforts in the DTES, Varun was awarded the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, issued by Governor General of Canada in June 2021.

We’ll keep you updated on the situation should we hear more.

The post People Angry About an Elevator Are Angrily Marching to Deloitte’s Vancouver Office Today appeared first on Going Concern.

Anyway, SAP. That’s the new gig. Reuters:

SAP software company (SAPG.DE) has named former Deloitte CEO Punit Renjen as designated supervisory board chairman to succeed co-founder Hasso Plattner, whose term will expire in May 2024 after two decades.

SAP’s board nominated 61 year-old Renjen, CEO of Deloitte from 2015 until the end of 2022, to stand for election as a new member of SAP’s supervisory board at its annual general meeting on May 11, adding this would trigger the handover process.

“With extensive experience as a highly successful CEO of one of the world’s largest consulting firms, Punit brings valuable insights and expertise to the board,” Plattner said in a statement late on Wednesday.

Throughout his reign we heard only complimentary things about Punit Renjen, and that’s saying a lot considering Going Concern is a depository for the entire profession’s complaining and petty back-biting. He has an incredible backstory as an immigrant and hard-working student from India who arrived in the United States with a two pairs of tight jeans (it was the 80s) and a couple bucks. Through a series of choices and a small bit of fate, the young Renjen ended up on Deloitte’s radar while studying at Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management where he sat in the front of the class with a tape recorder because he struggled a bit to understand an American accent.

From a 2015 Quartz profile:

“While I was in school, a local magazine picked the 10 best students, and they picked me and profiled me in the magazine,” Renjen remembered in an interview last year. That magazine was picked up by Deloitte (Touche Ross) partner on a flight, who scanned Renjen’s profile and then asked an assistant to call him in for an interview.

Touche Ross merged with Deloitte Haskins & Sells a few years later and the rest is history.

“His deep understanding of our customers’ needs, and the broader industry make him an ideal candidate for Chairman of the Supervisory Board from 2024 onwards,” said Plattner.

SAP names ex-Deloitte CEO as chairman designate to succeed co-founder [Reuters]

The post Fans of Punit Renjen Will Be Happy to Hear the Former Deloitte Global CEO Has Landed a Sweet Board Chairman Gig appeared first on Going Concern.

The full list of 30 firms costs $30 and we don’t have money like that so we’re looking at the five we can see for free. There’s a note at the top that “information was obtained from firm representatives through questionnaires and could not be independently verified by the Portland Business Journal” so keep that in mind.

Sharing this because it includes global CPA numbers and it’s probably good to document that so we can look back twenty years from now and tell our grandchildren stories about the time entities called “accounting firms” employed tens of thousands of people.

As you can see, Moss Adams comes in #1 with almost 100 CPAs working in Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill counties in Oregon as well as Clark and Skamania counties in Washington (that’s how PBJ has defined “metro”). Deloitte employs the most non-CPA professionals in the area but just 71 CPAs, a mere blip against its worldwide 11,217 CPAs. As we know, Moss Adams is headquartered in nearby Seattle, Perkins & Co. and Geffen Mesher are local to Oregon.

Per its last headcount in 2022, Deloitte US employs 129,110 staff, 135,118 professionals total including PPMDs, and 21,279 administrative, bringing its total to 156,397. We’re elaborating on Deloitte because they appear to have the most CPAs globally and Googling “Deloitte US headcount” returned detailed information in under five seconds. Here, have the whole chart just because:11217

If the global CPA number above is correct, that means 2.7% of Deloitte’s global workforce of 415,000 are CPAs. Today we learned.

The post The Largest Accounting Firms in Portland, Ranked by Number of CPAs Working There appeared first on Going Concern.

At @Deloitte, we’re committed to our people’s professional & personal well-being. That’s why we’re thrilled our organization has been named one of the Best Places to Work in 2023 by @Glassdoor. #GlassdoorBPTW

Check it out: https://t.co/hGgxj34Qju pic.twitter.com/EJWS9fKqqk

— Life at Deloitte US (@lifeatdeloitte) January 18, 2023

If you scroll alllll the way down to #58 (of 100 large companies), there it is.

Deloitte is outranked by consulting firms, LEGO, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and even a grocery store (H-E-B) but is the only Big 4 firm on the list. Outranking Deloitte, we get employee favorite RSM at #38.

Related: according to a Big4Transparency survey, RSM has the highest job satisfaction of the nine firms below. And a whole Reddit thread full of people praising them.

And just before we reach #100 we find Armanino at #91.

Glassdoor uses employee reviews left on its site to come up with these lists every year. For the 2023 list, only company reviews and ratings from current and former employees submitted between October 19, 2021, and October 17, 2022 count, and for former employees Glassdoor only counts reviews from those who left the company in 2022 or 2021 in the 2023 list ranking.

Fun fact: ZERO accounting firms made the 2022 list. So good job.

Best Places to Work 2023 [Glassdoor]

The post We Had to Scroll Really Far Down to Find a Big 4 Firm on This Glassdoor Best Places to Work List appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte US announced this morning that Jason Girzadas has been selected as chief executive officer and Lara Abrash has been selected as the chair of the board, beginning June 4, 2023, subject to a partner ratification vote. Jason succeeds outgoing CEO Joe Ucuzoglu who was chosen as Deloitte Global CEO last year, Lara will be replacing Chair Janey Foutty.

There is of course the obligatory fluffing in the press release:

“Jason’s business leadership and commitment to serving our clients and alliance partners has delivered tremendous impact for Deloitte, our clients, and the overall professional services profession. His experience and ability to drive an innovation culture and technology-driven transformation positions him to lead our firm through the complexities and opportunities of the future. Lara’s distinguished career, including her deep regulatory and governance experience and passion for the partnership, has prepared her to lead our board forward with distinction,” said Foutty. “Jason and Lara are visionary leaders with proven track records who bring complementary experiences representing the breadth of our firm, which will make for a strong partnership to skillfully lead our firm over the next four years.”

“I have had the pleasure of working closely with Jason and Lara over many years, most recently as members of the US Executive Committee,” said Ucuzoglu, who was recently elected Deloitte Global CEO. “I am thrilled by their selection, and I am confident that our clients, people, communities and capital markets will benefit from their joint leadership over the next four years.”

Ucuzoglu added, “Further, I speak on behalf of our entire organization in expressing our utmost appreciation for Janet’s leadership as the chair of the board during this period of unprecedented success, and personally, I can’t thank her enough for her collaboration. While she decided not to seek a second term, Janet’s extraordinary impact and her commitment to our clients, our people, and innovation have positioned us strongly as we move into the future.”

Going Concern was provided with a copy of the email that went out to Deloitters announcing the selections, we’ve included it in its entirety below for your reading pleasure.

Colleagues,

As you know, our elected leader succession process, which takes place every four years, began in the fall. I am pleased to share that the US Board has selected Jason Girzadas as our nominee for US CEO and Lara Abrash as our nominee for US Chair. Each of these exceptional leaders have, throughout their careers, demonstrated a deep caring for our partnership, our clients, and our teams. I am immensely grateful for their commitment to serve.

Jason is currently the managing principal of Businesses, Global, and Strategic Services (BGS), where he is responsible for driving integration and strategic advancement across Deloitte’s four businesses. He also is a member of the US Executive Committee. Jason previously served as the Deloitte Global managing principal of Consulting. He also served as a member of Deloitte’s Global Board of Directors.

Lara is currently the chair and chief executive officer of Deloitte & Touche LLP, where she leads the US Audit & Assurance practice. She has served in a variety of leadership roles during her Deloitte career, including as a global lead client service partner on large multinational clients and as a member of Deloitte’s US Board. Lara is a member of the US Executive Committee.

Please join me in congratulating Jason and Lara, who will assume their new roles on June 4, 2023, pending ratification by our US Partners and Principals. As is our customary process, the Board will work with Jason and Lara on any key leadership decisions (including their successors) stemming from their selection, and we will update you as soon as that succession process is completed.

With Joe Ucuzoglu taking on the Global CEO role effective December 31, 2022, the Board asked Pete Shimer to serve as Interim US CEO on that date. Pete will continue to lead us forward in the months ahead. I too will continue to serve as US Chair until our new leaders assume their roles.

As some of you may know, I decided this past summer to not seek a second term or any other elected leader role in the partnership. I have absolutely loved chairing our wonderful Board, and the decision was not an easy one. I will keep you posted on my next chapter, but for the time being, my absolute focus in the months ahead will be on governing our amazing firm, supporting our leaders in the market, and being with our people.

This is a special time for our firm as we prepare to welcome new elected leaders—colleagues who love this organization deeply and are committed to our shared purpose and success. Together, I have no doubt we will continue to do truly amazing things.

Warmly,
Janet

Deloitte US Selects Jason Girzadas CEO; Lara Abrash Chair of the Board [PR Newswire]

The post Deloitte US Picked a New CEO and Chair, Sent Out an Email appeared first on Going Concern.

Energy costs have soared in the wake of Covid and the invasion of Ukraine.

Deloitte told its 23,000 UK staff that its offices would now be heated to between 19 (66.2 F) and 22C (71.6 F) as part of new energy-saving plans.

It said that the temperature range in its UK offices, while lower, would still be more than the minimum 16C guideline from the Health and Safety Executive for those in desk jobs.

16C is 60 degrees F btw.

Anyway, this morning we got an email purporting to be from the inside suggesting that leadership made these decisions from the comforts of their properly-heated homes and have now walked back the policy featured mere days ago in the UK press. Let’s read:

The BBC/FT story you reference in today’s article has been causing head-scratching amongst Deloitte employees who were actually coming in to the office throughout December when the policy was implemented.

After nearly two weeks of half the people literally wearing parkas at their desks it’s been pretty obvious that they’ve rowed back from this policy, returning the office to more ‘normal’ temperatures.

What’s more ironic about the way our PR team seems to be relishing this policy is the disproportionately negative effect it has on women [Ed. note: the email linked to a New Yorker article entitled Is Your Thermostat Sexist? — worth a read!] – which was blatantly obvious in terms of numbers having to wrap up last month. Clearly our PR team have been busily “working from home”, protecting them from the chilling effects of this gimmick of a policy.

We asked our emailer to elaborate on their observations. They explained that as a result of the colder temps in the office, women were much more likely to be bundled up and some decided not to come in at all to avoid it.

A number actually gave up on coming in to the office altogether – meaning they’d be using more heating at home, and likely increasing, rather than decreasing, the overall energy being used (so much for it being about “Net Zero”).

Deloitte UK Senior Partner and Chief Executive Richard Houston said that the money saved by keeping offices cooler in December (expected to be about £75,000 which is ≈$90k USD) would be donated to a disability charity called Scope. He also added that the firm is hearing from staff and clients alike that they want Deloitte to embrace ways to “work more sustainably.” It seems this ain’t it, chief.

Deloitte cuts UK office temperatures by 2C to save energy [BBC]
Deloitte cuts temperatures in UK offices by 2C to save energy [Financial Times]

The post Apparently Staff at Deloitte UK Did Not Warm Up to the Firm’s Money-Saving Cold Office Policy appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte and ServiceNow have a partnership/alliance so that’s why both brands are on the shoes. Anyone got a pair?

Related article:

Would You Rock These KPMG Kicks?

The post Apparently Custom Deloitte Stan Smith Adidas Sneakers Are a Thing appeared first on Going Concern.

In the 2021 inspection of Deloitte & Touche LLP, the PCAOB assessed the firm’s compliance with laws, rules, and professional standards applicable to the audits of public companies.

We selected for review 54 audits of issuers with fiscal years generally ending in 2020. For each issuer audit selected, we reviewed a portion of the audit. We also evaluated elements of the firm’s system of quality control.

We also selected for review two reviews of interim financial information (“interim reviews”). Our reviews were performed to gain a timely understanding of emerging financial reporting and auditing risks associated with issuers that were formed by mergers between non-public operating companies and special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). We did not identify any instances of non-compliance with PCAOB standards related to the interim reviews that we reviewed.

[…]

Seven of the 54 audits we reviewed in 2021 are included in Part I.A of this report due to the significance of the deficiencies identified. The identified deficiencies primarily related to the firm’s testing of controls over and substantive testing of inventory.

So said Deloitte’s 2021 PCAOB inspection report, which was released on Dec. 19. D-town’s 13% error rate in its latest auditing report card is its worst since 2017 when it screwed up on 20% of audits selected by the PCAOB. The good news is since that 20% deficiency rate in 2017, Deloitte has cut down on its auditing errors so much that even with PwC’s historically low 1.9% error rate in its 2020 inspection report and its 3.6% error rate in its 2021 inspection report, Deloitte still has a better average deficiency rate than PwC for audit inspection years 2018 to 2021:

So that part should make Joe U., Lara Abrash, and other Deloitte audit folks happy.

Of the seven wayward Deloitte audits in its 2021 inspection report, one had deficiencies in both internal control over financial reporting and in the financial statement, two had deficiencies in the financial statement only, and four had deficiencies in ICFR only.

There were two audit areas in which deficiencies were found, according to the PCAOB:

• Inventory: The deficiencies primarily related to substantive testing of inventory and testing controls over the existence of inventory, including cycle-count controls.
• Revenue and related accounts: The deficiency related to testing controls over revenue.

Two Deloitte audits with substantial errors happened for issuers in both the financials and energy sectors, while the other three were in the consumer discretionary, IT, and utilities sectors.

Feel free to peruse Deloitte’s latest audit inspection report below.

The post Deloitte’s Latest PCAOB Inspection Report Is Its Worst Since 2017 appeared first on Going Concern.

As the name implies, the report is pretty transparent. For example, it tells us exactly how many of Deloitte US’s 80,146 are male and how many are female and how this compares to the year before:

It also offers us more detailed data on the Deloitte US workforce, handily accessed via dropdown. Like, say you really want to know what percent of Deloitte senior managers are Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander. No problem!

OK, what about the FY22 new class of PPMDs?

There’s a breakdown by generation, too. This gives us approximately 10,579 Gen Z, 47,126 millennials, 18,584 Gen X, and 3,847 boomers (very, very approximately):

Props to the 561 boomers at this level:

Anyway, of the pages and pages of Deloitte US workforce data which you are welcome to scroll through yourself, there is a small section on retention.

Says the report:

Our people are our greatest strength, which is why we monitor retention closely and from a variety of perspectives. Retention is a complex issue. People choose to stay or leave for a variety of reasons, including professionals leaving to pursue higher education, taking roles in industry, and finding opportunities that better align with their personal needs and professional goals. While people moving on is a natural part of workforce management and is expected in the professional services industry, disproportionate attrition can also be a key indicator of where we need to focus.

These are the key observations Deloitte has gleaned from this data:

• The attrition of Asian professionals is the highest among all racial categories with 117 professionals who identify as Asian leaving Deloitte for every 100 US professionals who leave.
• The attrition of Black professionals is below the US workforce overall, with 92 professionals who identify as Black leaving for every 100 US professionals who leave.
• The attrition of White professionals is just below the US workforce overall, with 96 professionals who identify as White leaving for every 100 US professionals who leave.
• The attrition of Hispanic/Latinx professionals is above the US workforce overall with 105 professionals who identify as Hispanic/Latinx leaving for every 100 US professionals who leave.
• The attrition of male professionals is above the US workforce overall with 108 male professionals leaving for every 100 US professionals who leave.
• The attrition of female professionals is below the US workforce overall with 90 female professionals leaving for every 100 US professionals who leave. This has contributed to an increase in female representation.

Deloitte doesn’t offer any theories on why certain groups are leaving Deloitte at a higher rate than their peers so feel free to throw your own theories out there.

The post Deloitte Transparently Informs Us Asians and Males Have the Highest Attrition at the Firm appeared first on Going Concern.

The Financial Reporting Council has fined Deloitte UK more than £900,000 (a cool $1,081,444 Federal Reserve notes) over its shoddy audit work for building materials supplier SIG. The fine was originally £1.25m (about $1.45m USD) but the FRC decided to go a little easier on Deloitte after the firm admitted the work sucked. Engagement partner Simon Manning was also fined, first £50,000 but then, again, because he accepted that the work fell short of standard the FRC brought that down to £36,250 ($43,500 USD), which is roughly equivalent to the yearly salary of a first-year auditor at Deloitte UK (that is not a joke).

Along with the financial penalties, the FRC imposed several sanctions against both Deloitte and Mr. Manning, most of which involve a public reprimand not unlike the pillories of yore where naughty people would be set up in the town square so the citizenry could point and laugh. These sanctions include a published statement in the form of a severe reprimand, a declaration that the 2015 and 2016 audit reports signed on behalf of the firm did not satisfy the relevant requirements, and an order requiring the firm to take specified action to mitigate the effect or prevent the occurrence of the contravention (a.k.a. “knock it off and don’t do that again ok”). Mr. Manning got off easier than the firm, he racked up just the fine and a published reprimand.

So what happened? Direct from the FRC:

Deloitte and Mr Manning admitted two breaches of Relevant Requirements in relation to the audit of supplier rebates and cash.

In respect of supplier rebates (financial incentives paid to SIG by its suppliers, to encourage the company to purchase the suppliers’ goods), Deloitte and Mr Manning failed to obtain and document sufficient appropriate audit evidence in respect of the testing of rebate terms as set out in SIG plc’s rebate workbooks, and the testing of rebate debtor balances. They also failed to exercise sufficient professional scepticism by failing to investigate indications that rebate debtor balances may have been overstated.

In respect of cash, Deloitte and Mr Manning failed to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence in respect of cheque payments made around the year-end, and failed to exercise sufficient professional scepticism by failing to investigate indications that cheque payments claimed to have been made post-year-end should properly have been regarded as pre-year-end payments.

Deloitte and Mr Manning co-operated with the FRC’s investigation and admitted the breaches. The extent and timing of their admissions is reflected in the 27.5% discount which has been applied to the financial penalties.

“We are disappointed that our work on the FY15 and FY16 SIG plc audits – relating to the audit of supplier rebates and cash – fell short of the high standards expected of us,” a Deloitte UK spokesperson said. “We have learnt from the matters identified by the FRC and remain committed to audit quality and its continuous improvement.”

Sanctions against Deloitte LLP and Simon Manning [Financial Reporting Council]

The post Deloitte UK Got a 27.5% Discount on Audit Fines For Admitting They Screwed Up appeared first on Going Concern.

There is of course a press release:

The Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum has announced a $1 million gift from Deloitte to support the development of the new museum. The donation establishes Deloitte as a founding donor of the museum, which will recognize American women’s accomplishments, the history they have made and the communities they represent.

“America’s most defining moments included change-making women whose stories have often gone untold,” said Lisa Sasaki, interim director of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. “Deloitte, as a founding donor, has created a pathway for the Smithsonian to tell the heroic and untold stories of women, and we thank them for their investment.”

The legislation creating the museum passed in December 2020. Deloitte’s contribution will support the initial planning of the museum’s building and help facilitate program development and digital content for the museum. It will also help to elevate American women’s stories as a part of the Smithsonian—the world’s largest research, education and research complex.

“As a longtime supporter of the Smithsonian at large and an industry leader in the advancement of women, Deloitte is proud to be a founding donor,” said Kavitha Prabhakar, chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, Deloitte US. “We believe that it’s our responsibility as a business to make a broader societal impact that matters, and contributing to the development of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum helps supports our pursuit to create a more equitable society for generations to come.”

Writes Smithsonian about the museum’s goal: To create a more equitable America, the Smithsonian is researching, disseminating, and amplifying the histories of American women through its American Women’s History Initiative in preparation for the future Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. The Smithsonian wants the role of women in American history to be well-known, accurate, acknowledged, and empowering.

There are currently 13 exhibitions from across the Smithsonian that feature the stories of American women in history, the arts, and sciences, several of which are at the National Museum of American History including Music HerStory: Women and Music of Social Change and The Only One in the Room: Women Achievers in Business and the Cost of Success.

Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum Has Announced $1 Million Gift From Deloitte [Smithsonian]

The post Deloitte Gave a Million Bucks to the New Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum appeared first on Going Concern.

At the top of this list with the most jobs? Deloitte and PwC. Interestingly, Indeed lists the two firms as different industries.

1. Deloitte
Share of jobs*: 1,774

Industry: Management & Consulting

2. PwC
Share of jobs*: 702

Industry: Financial Services

Indeed explains the methodology thusly: Companies featured on this list have the highest share of new tech job postings, with over 100 jobs per million, posted between 11/18/22 – 12/2/22 in the US. ‘Share of new jobs’ refers to the number of new tech job postings per 1 million total new jobs posted on Indeed.

Deloitte came in first by a wide margin, the companies at the bottom half of the list have share of jobs numbers hovering around 100 or so. Third on the list is Accenture with 414, no other accounting firms appear among the 20 companies on the list though Booz Allen sits neatly at #10 with 188.

You can find links to each company’s Indeed job listings at the original post. If a single click is too much work for you, here is Deloitte and PwC. Recommending hitting those links to see each firm’s Work Happiness Score, see if you can guess which one this is:

20 Companies Hiring Now in Tech [Indeed]

The post Deloitte and PwC Top This Indeed List of Companies Hiring Tech Workers appeared first on Going Concern.

Excuse the potato quality of this screen recording, I’m on a Windows 3.1 machine. I’ll see if I can dig up a better copy.

You can also find it here among a few other zombified ads that ran last night, or here on Deloitte’s website.

First seen on Reddit where the reactions are mixed. Some people think it’s genius, others think it’s stupid while still others think it’s brilliantly self-aware. And then there’s this person:

Thoughts? Thoughts other than “oh my God, The Walking Dead was still on the air up until yesterday?”

The post Confirmed: People Who Work For Deloitte Are Zombies appeared first on Going Concern.

The Detroit Free Press reported on Nov. 15:

Michigan’s Unemployment Insurance Agency has selected Deloitte to replace its decade-old unemployment benefits system, which, over the last decade, has falsely accused thousands of Michigan residents of unemployment fraud and contributed to delays in getting benefits to claimants during the pandemic.

The new system, which will be called uFACTS, is expected to be fully operational in 2025 and cost an estimated $78 million over 10 years.

“This is an exciting time that sets the tone for a new direction,” UIA Director Julia Dale said on a call with reporters Tuesday. Dale said the new system will have an “intuitive, human-centered design” and will allow claimants to easily access the system from their phones.

You can understand Michigan’s excitement of possibly finally having a smoothly working unemployment benefits system, as the state recently had to pay out the ass to settle a class-action lawsuit from unemployment claimants who were wrongly accused of fraud, resulting in the seizure of their property without the right to be heard, according to the Detroit Free Press:

The state has long been trying to replace the system, which was implemented under Gov. Rick Snyder and found to have a 93% error rate in making false fraud findings between 2013 and 2015, affecting tens of thousands of Michigan workers.

Those falsely accused of fraud were subjected to quadruple penalties and collections techniques such as wage garnishment and seizure of income tax refunds. The state of Michigan last month reached a settlement in one of the class-action lawsuits against the agency for $20 million.

The state issued a request for proposal for a new unemployment insurance system earlier this year and received five bids, including a bid from the current vendor Fast Enterprises to update the system. The other four bids were to replace the system, the Detroit Free Press reported. The Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency received five bids for initial five-year contracts ranging from $30.2 million to $70.1 million. Deloitte’s bid came in at $56.3 million, Nick Assendelft, a spokesperson for the agency, told the newspaper. No contract is in place yet as the state continues to negotiate the terms with Deloitte, but the funding has already been allocated for the new system.

This sound great and all for the state of Michigan, but the author of the article, Adrienne Roberts, did her homework and touched on Deloitte’s recent history of designing and building state unemployment benefit systems that have been plagued by problems, including fraud and security breaches:

Like many jobless systems throughout the country, the Deloitte system hasn’t had a perfect track record. During the pandemic, when federal jobless benefits for freelancers and contract workers became available, Deloitte upgraded several states’ current unemployment systems, or provided ones specifically to distribute the federal benefits. A Forbes investigation found these systems were marketed for their fraud detection abilities but still resulted in billions of dollars being distributed to fraudulent claims, a widespread problem that many states, including Michigan, were grappling with.

In Florida, Deloitte finished building the state’s unemployment benefits system, called CONNECT, in 2013, and the firm claimed it was “vastly outperforming the systems it replaced and processing claims more efficiently and accurately than ever before.” But when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and caused businesses of all sizes to freak out, Florida’s unemployment rate skyrocketed from 4.3% in March 2020 to 12.9% in April 2020. And as thousands of newly out-of-work Floridians were trying to file claims for unemployment benefits and receive payments during the pandemic, the website kept crashing.

A circuit court judge last year dismissed a potential class-action lawsuit against the state and Deloitte stemming from the problems with the CONNECT system. The judge said the plaintiffs—who sought damages and raised several arguments, including that the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and Deloitte were negligent and breached a fiduciary duty—couldn’t overcome legal hurdles to pursue the case against the FDEO and Deloitte.

But the ABC affiliate in Tampa Bay reported in July 2021 that Florida had paid out $1.9 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims since the start of the pandemic.

As Forbes reported, in May 2020, a mistake by Deloitte led to personal information of as many as 240,000 unemployment insurance applicants in Colorado, Illinois, and Ohio leaking on government benefits websites. In Ohio, out-of-work independent contractors who applied for benefits under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program received an email in May 2020 from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that said:

Deloitte Consulting is currently under contract with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) to assist the state of Ohio in administering the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program. Deloitte discovered on May 15, 2020 that your name, Social Security number, and street address pertaining to your application for and receipt of unemployment compensation benefits inadvertently had the capability to be viewed by other unemployment claimants. Thereafter, Deloitte immediately began an investigation and upon discovering the exposure, Deloitte immediately took steps to stop further access to and exposure of your personal information.

At this time, there is no evidence or indication to believe that your personal information was improperly used; therefore, our actions, as well as the actions you may want to consider, are preventative.

As a precaution, you may want to monitor your credit by obtaining a copy of your credit report from one of the three national credit bureaus. Federal law entitles every individual to one free credit report per year from each of the three main bureaus.

Deloitte said at that time it would offer free credit monitoring services to all PUA applicants in Ohio for a year.

“We’re not real impressed with the job Deloitte did, candidly. We’re taking a look at that,” Ohio Auditor Keith Faber said. “I think what you’re going to hear from Deloitte is, ‘We were told to put in a system up fast. This is the system we could get you fast to comply with the federal guidelines. It didn’t have the level of security protocols that we would have liked.’ But my view and our view was, it lacked security protocols.”

In Illinois, nearly 32,500 PUA applicants had their personal information available for all to see for a brief time, according to IllinoisPolicy.org. A small business owner from downstate Illinois, who was on the unemployment site to receive assistance herself, noticed people’s exposed data on May 15, 2020, and contacted her local state representative, who then alerted the governor’s office. During his daily COVID-19 press briefing on May 18, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker threw Deloitte under the bus, essentially saying because the firm built the state’s unemployment benefits portal, it was responsible for the data breach.

Forbes reported:

Illinois spent $14.3 million for a uFACTS setup and another $42.7 million to prop up attached call centers, according to government contract records. But the deployment was “inadequate” as it didn’t collect accurate data on PUA claims, according to state auditor Frank Mautino. He told Forbes, “We know that there was a large amount of fraud,” but it will have to wait until next year’s audit to get the requisite data to put a dollar amount on the criminal activity.

In Colorado, claimants’ personal information on that state’s PUA system was exposed for nearly two weeks in May 2020, according to the Colorado Sun. The newspaper reported that the Deloitte-built system mistakenly gave users privileged functions beyond the role of a regular claimant. It allowed users to search and potentially see another claimant’s “correspondence,” which could include a name and Social Security number.

Deloitte agreed to pay nearly $5 million last year to settle claims for 237,675 people in Illinois, Ohio, and Colorado who, between roughly May 18 and May 21, 2020, may have had their personal information exposed because of a security breach while seeking pandemic-related unemployment aid.

Lots of luck, Michigan. Hope everything with Deloitte works out for the best.

Related articles:

Rhode Island Believes In Second Chances, Even for Deloitte
Rhode Island Is Still Holding a Grudge Against Deloitte
Rhode Island Just Can’t Quit Deloitte
If You Asked Unemployed Californians Their Favorite Big 4 Firm It Definitely Isn’t Deloitte

The post A Certain Big 4 Firm Gets Another Chance to Screw Up a State’s Unemployment Benefits System appeared first on Going Concern.

And the responses this person got back are about what you’d expect for this question.

If you’re this Green Dotter and you see this, and if you went against their advice and ended up asking someone in your office for a signing bonus, let us know how that all turned out.

The post Begging for a Signing Bonus *After* Accepting an Offer is Not How This Works appeared first on Going Concern.

Let’s get caught up:

Deloitte has overhauled its leadership in the UK, replacing half of the 16-person executive team, including the managing partner, in an unexpected reshuffle.

Eight of the accounting firm’s most senior partners are set to leave the leadership team to make way for six newcomers, according to people briefed on the changes and documents seen by the Financial Times.

Only one of the new appointments is a woman and the reshuffle will reduce female representation at Deloitte’s top table from 37.5 per cent to 28.6 per cent.

The shake-up, which was not communicated to staff until the firm was approached by the FT on Thursday, is set to be billed internally as a “refresh” and presented as business as usual, according to two people at Deloitte.

The FT headline makes it sound a tad more extreme than it is, yes Deloitte axed half of their executive leadership but there were only 16 people to axe and several individuals are staying on at Deloitte, just not in executive leadership positions. FT names Managing Partner Stephen Griggs, Consulting leader Anne-Marie Malley, Risk Advisory head Andy Morris, and Managing Partner of Financial Advisory Richard Bell as a few of the leaders who will be vacating their roles.

FT makes a point to mention the current leadership team is 100% white, two of the new leadership folks fall into the ethnic minority background category. And as mentioned above, although three women are stepping down only one will be part of the new leadership crop.

Deloitte axes half of UK executive team [Financial Times]

The post Deloitte Just Canned a Bunch of Old Leaders to Make Way For Younger Ones in the UK appeared first on Going Concern.

Lara Abrash

Based on recent trends, Lara Abrash would have to be the frontrunner for the CEO seat. The last two Deloitte CEOs—Joe Ucuzoglu and Cathy Engelbert, who is now commissioner of the WNBA—were the chair and CEO of the firm’s audit and assurance practice, Deloitte & Touche, before they were promoted. Abrash has held that role at D&T since 2019.

She previously served as deputy CEO of Deloitte & Touche, national managing partner of audit innovation and client service delivery, and as chief operating officer of U.S. audit and assurance. Abrash has been a partner at Deloitte since 2005.

Her client service roles have included serving as the global lead client service partner on a variety of large multinational clients across multiple industries, including financial services, consumer products, technology, and hospitality.

Dan Helfrich

There has been precedent for Deloitte promoting the leader of its consulting practice to a high-ranking role. Outgoing Deloitte Global CEO and cricket enthusiast Punit Renjen was the chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting when he was chosen to replace Sharon Allen as Deloitte US chairman of the board in 2011. He would go on to serve two four-year terms as Deloitte’s global CEO, starting in 2015 and finishing on Dec. 31, 2022, when he will retire and be succeeded by Joe U.

That is why Dan Helfrich, current chair and CEO of Deloitte Consulting, is on this list.

Helfrich took over as head of Deloitte Consulting on the same day in 2019 that Abrash took over as head of D&T. He succeeded Janet Foutty, who was elected chairman of the board and continues in that role.

Helfrich, who has been with Deloitte since 1998 and is a principal with the firm, previously led the firm’s Government & Public Services practice. He has led large customer-centric transformations for both public- and private-sector clients, and also was Deloitte’s chief strategy officer for human capital and the civilian government sector. In addition, he writes and speaks regularly on topics such as purpose-driven leadership, elevating citizen and customer experience, and the future of work.

He also is the play-by-play voice of the Georgetown Hoyas men’s soccer team.

I’ve called about 800 (!) goals over last 20 years at Shaw Field. While this won’t hit the top ten in terms of game drama, it is absolutely near the very top in pure finishing quality. Bravo @MurrellJacob https://t.co/SO37JLtglf

— Dan Helfrich (@dhelfrich21) October 19, 2022

John Peirson

John Peirson was also part of the Abrash/Helfrich promotion class in June 2019 when he was named chairman and CEO of Deloitte Risk and Financial Advisory. Peirson is probably a long-shot to take over as Deloitte CEO, as Big 4 firms lately haven’t put people from their advisory and tax practices in their esteemed CEO seats. But we’re just speculating, right? So that makes Peirson a viable candidate.

He previously served as the COO for risk and financial advisory and deputy CFO of Deloitte US. Peirson joined Deloitte in 2002 after spending the preceding 14 years at Arthur Andersen.

He has spent his career helping clients in such areas as external and internal audit, controls optimization, operational risk transformation, accounting and reporting, and governance-related services.

Roger Arrieux Jr.

Roger Arrieux Jr. is a longer long-shot than Peirson to take over as Deloitte CEO, but we’ve never heard anything bad uttered about the managing partner of Deloitte’s New York City office (its largest in the U.S.), and that’s something because we’ve heard bad things uttered about nearly everyone in public accounting in the last 13 years.

“Roger is a natural leader,” said Steve Gallucci, who preceded Arrieux as MP of the NYC office and is currently national managing partner for the Global and U.S. CFO Program at Deloitte. “He understands the needs of our people, clients, and communities and knows how to produce effective solutions to our most critical business, financial, and regulatory challenges.”

Arrieux succeeded Gallucci as NYC OMP in 2020. He has been credited for driving business growth, facilitating a multidisciplinary approach toward serving clients, leading corporate citizenship strategy, and creating and modeling a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture, Deloitte said.

Arrieux, who joined Deloitte in 1993, specializes in providing professional services to alternative investment vehicles across a diverse client base. He teams across service lines to provide solutions and assists in understanding regulatory, structural, and operational frameworks, according to the firm.

Honorable mentions

• This ambitious Deloitte intern from 2014;
• This desperate Redditor;
• This lady;
• A polar bear;
• Deloitte’s service dog; and
• The Green Men.

We want to hear your best guesses as to who the favorite(s), spoilers, and dark horses are in the race to replace Joe Ucuzoglu as Deloitte CEO. And if you have any definitive knowledge about what’s going on behind closed doors, email us.

Related article:

Joe Ucuzoglu Ascends the Throne of Deloitte Global, Maybe Someone Will Care This Time

The post Let’s Speculate About Who Will Be the Next CEO of Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

Australian Financial Review had a good piece on the issue of Big 4 audit quality the other day that covers the basics of recent ASIC inspections — poor assessment of asset values and impairments were the biggest issues in audit work across the board as well as reviews of revenue — and now AFR has highlighted Deloitte’s comments on why exactly their audit work is so bad. Ready for this? Auditors are tired.

Deloitte’s managing partner of audit and assurance, Joanne Gorton, said the firm was “investing heavily in technology” to improve its audit work. Audit staff were also undertaking more training to raise quality.

This included taking all assurance staff, “from our newest recruits and graduates up to the most senior partners”, out of their regular work for three days this year to train them up in the new technology and upskill their audit judgment skills, Ms Gorton said.

Deloitte’s partners were told in a crisis meeting over the ASIC results last week that fatigued staff and missed deadlines were two causes of the slump in quality, and Ms Gorton said plans were under way to mitigate these factors.

“We’re trying to spread out the work over the year because that makes the workload much more manageable,” she said.

You’ll note Australia is struggling with the same auditor shortages as every other market. So good luck spreading that around, there’s no one to spread it around to.

It sounds like Deloitte Australia is importing some talent (100 new recruits, says AFR) and grabbing people from other teams to help with audit work, the latter being something we heard was happening at large firms in the U.S. last year for year-end inventory counts.

The issue of audit quality has long plagued firms (excepting PwC’s nearly flawless 2020 PCAOB inspection report) and the issue of auditor burnout and exhaustion as it relates to talent shortages is directly linked to said quality. See: The Audit Profession’s Inability to Retain Talent Poses a Serious Threat to Audit Quality. The massive technology investments firms are making today needed to be made yesterday and even with firms shoving more than half of new hires into audit (U.S. data) it may not be enough.  No, it definitely won’t be enough. We’re trapped in a catastrophic cycle of accelerated burnout which leads to leaving which leads to even smaller teams doing the same amount of work. And we’re wondering why no one wants to take this career path? A starting salary of $65,000 in AUS is about $41,000 USD btw. And $65,000 is a high end figure for new graduates hired into assurance at Deloitte Australia.

Things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better. May God have mercy on auditors’ souls.

The post Our Audits Sucked Because the Auditors Are Exhausted, Says Deloitte Australia appeared first on Going Concern.

The Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (Deloitte Global) Board today announced the selection of Joe Ucuzoglu as Deloitte Global CEO, subject to a ratification vote by Deloitte member firm partners. Ucuzoglu has been the CEO of Deloitte US since 2019. Deloitte operates in 150 countries with more than 415,000 professionals and revenue in our latest fiscal year of $59.3 billion.

Ucuzoglu will succeed Punit Renjen, who has served as the Deloitte Global CEO since 2015. Upon retirement, Renjen will become Global CEO Emeritus. As Deloitte Global CEO, Renjen developed and executed a global strategy that resulted in Deloitte revenue growing from $35 billion to more than $59 billion in just seven years. Today, Deloitte is the leading professional services organization in the world, recognized as the strongest and most valuable commercial services brand, a leader in audit quality, and one of the world’s best places to work.

You know, normally when firms say they are the “leading professional services organization” they are taking some liberty with the definition of the word “leading” but in this case Deloitte does sit at the top of the Big 4 pile, at least when it comes to revenue. Deloitte pulled in a record $59.3 billion in revenue for the financial year ending May 31, an 18.1% increase over 2021’s haul of $50.2 billion.

The press release goes on to talk about some stuff Deloitte has done under Renjen’s leadership — namely launching WorldClass and WorldClimate, two initiatives we will not bother describing in detail for the sake of brevity, look them up if you want — and then you get the obligatory quotes about how kick ass Punit was. Back to Joe:

Speaking of his successor, Renjen said, “Joe is an exceptional leader. We have worked together side by side for many years, and I believe he is an excellent choice to serve as the next Deloitte Global CEO. He has been a member of the Deloitte Global Executive team for the last several years, and I am confident that, under his leadership, Deloitte will continue to deliver outstanding results for our people, clients, and the communities in which we live and work.”

In response to his nomination, Joe Ucuzoglu, Deloitte US CEO and the next Deloitte Global CEO said, “It is my great honor to be chosen to lead this extraordinary organization. I believe deeply in Deloitte’s responsibility to lead through the unprecedented pace of change the world is experiencing, and to meet the rapidly expanding needs of our stakeholders. I want to thank Punit for his excellent leadership of Deloitte.”

Deloitte is leading something alright.

The member firm partner vote to ratify Ucuzoglu will take place throughout the month of November, and he will assume the Deloitte Global CEO role upon Renjen’s retirement on December 31, 2022. No word on who will take his place at the helm of Deloitte US.

‘Grats, Joe. Maybe this time around people will care about your spectacular achievement.

The post Joe Ucuzoglu Ascends the Throne of Deloitte Global, Maybe Someone Will Care This Time appeared first on Going Concern.

Sure, guys. Sure.

A Deloitte survey of over 4,000 respondents* found that over half of employees (62%) consider an organisation’s purpose before deciding to join, with over a third (36%) saying that an organisation’s purpose was just as important as their salary and benefits package.

Over a fifth (21%) of respondents stated that purpose had helped them to decide between job offers, indicating that purpose does carry an influence in attracting new talent to an organisation.

The survey found that 84% of respondents valued working somewhere that provided meaningful work. Feeling proud to work for an organisation (83%) also scored highly. Respondents also thought it was important that organisations actively play a role in securing a better future for the next generation (80%).

Regarding that last line, this is why EY is going to have a helluva time recruiting in the next year or two. Current partners are securing their futures, future partners can get bent.

Payal Vasudeva, partner and consulting people & purpose leader at Deloitte, commented: “In a competitive talent market, employees are more attracted to organisations where they can find purpose in the work they do. Looking at these findings, we can see that organisations need to show genuine commitment to purpose if they want to retain and attract employees.”

Maybe that’s true in other industries but no one becomes an accountant to change the world, no matter what Gen Z recruiting initiatives might say.

And as we’ve heard repeatedly over the past twenty years, it’s the young folks that put purpose highest. I guess we’ve just accepted that home ownership is off the table for many of us so might as well feel good about the work we do every now and then?

The survey found that over a third (37%) of 16-44 year olds considered an organisation’s purpose before they applied. In comparison, only 21% of 55-64-year-olds and 24% of 65-75-year-olds had considered an organisation’s purpose before they applied.

Over a quarter (29%) of 16–24-year-olds also said they left their organisation as they felt it was ‘not true’ to its purpose and 17% of this group left their organisation as they didn’t feel aligned to its purpose. In comparison only 8% of 55-64-year-olds and 11% of 65-75-year-olds cited not being true to its purpose as the reason they had left their organisation. Only 4% of those aged 55-75 say they had left an organisation because they did not feel aligned to its purpose.

LOL at high schoolers leaving their job at the drive-thru because they didn’t feel a deep sense of purpose.

Anyway, those are the results. We buying this? Show of hands, how many of you consider ‘purpose’ to be as important as pay when deciding between offers?

The post Another Deloitte Survey Says ‘Purpose’ is Just as Important as Pay (Yeah Right) appeared first on Going Concern.

Financial Times reports that Deloitte UK staff were informed last week that Cahill, a 14-year veteran of the firm, will retire now that an internal investigation of the incident is complete.

Cahill attended the racecourse with a separate group of friends but joined the executive compensation team, as well as other Deloitte staff, towards the end of the day. By this point he was heavily inebriated and launched into a 30-minute drunken tirade that was sexist, racist and bullying, according to two eyewitnesses who requested anonymity.

His comments included an offensive remark about an ethnic minority employee, according to the eyewitnesses.

One of them said that Cahill “offended every collective group [of minorities]” with the rant. They added that their colleagues had thoroughly enjoyed the day at Ascot but that the outburst left many feeling “completely deflated”. Cahill called colleagues the following day to apologise and reported the incident to Deloitte.

FT spoke to two people who are familiar with Cahill — “a competitor and a Deloitte insider” they said — who described him as outspoken, jovial, and highly-regarded within his sector though sometimes he lacked a filter (no shit).

Apparently some at the firm are not happy with this outcome, suggesting that letting him retire is inappropriate for a person of his level at the firm who managed to deeply offend 30 people at once in the course of half on hour.

“Badging it as a retirement is not appropriate,” said one of the eyewitnesses. “Big companies have so much education and training on what is appropriate and taking a zero-tolerance approach . . . This does not feel like ‘zero tolerance’.”

The other eyewitness said they felt compelled to speak out about Deloitte’s handling of the matter given Cahill’s role in advising large listed companies on their diversity and inclusion targets. “This does not feel moral,” the person said.

FT does not give specifics on the rant, probably because none of it bears repeating.

Deloitte would not comment other to say “Stephen Cahill is retiring from Deloitte. We don’t have any comment on Stephen’s retirement.”

The post Deloitte Partner Who Got Sh*tfaced Drunk and Made an Ass of Himself at the Horse Races Will Be Retiring appeared first on Going Concern.

From the SEC press release:

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Certified Public Accountants LLP (Deloitte-China), the Chinese affiliate of the Deloitte global network of accounting firms, with failing to comply with fundamental U.S. auditing requirements in its component audits of U.S. issuers and its audits of foreign companies listed on U.S. exchanges. Deloitte-China agreed to settle the charges by paying a $20 million penalty and agreeing to extensive remedial measures.

The SEC order finds that, in the course of numerous audits over multiple years, Deloitte-China personnel asked clients to select their own samples for testing and to prepare audit documentation purporting to show that Deloitte-China had obtained and assessed the supporting evidence for certain clients’ accounting entries. This created the appearance that Deloitte-China had conducted the required testing of clients’ financial statements and internal controls when there was no evidence in the audit file that it had in fact done so.

“We find that Deloitte-China fell woefully short of professional auditing requirements in numerous component audits of Chinese operations of U.S. issuers and audits of Chinese companies listed on U.S. exchanges,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler. “These basic, foundational auditing requirements are necessary to instill trust in our capital markets. It’s a privilege for issuers to access our markets — the largest, deepest, most liquid markets in the world. Investors in U.S. markets should be protected — and have trust in a company’s financial numbers — regardless of whether an issuer is foreign or domestic.”

The SEC order finds that the misconduct involves both junior and senior audit team members and reflected a lack of audit supervision by audit partners. MAN, when they said there’s a critical shortage of auditors and audit supervisors they weren’t kidding.

Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division Gurbir S. Grewal said this action involves audit failures at the most basic level. “Auditors are vital to the success of our financial markets and the standards they must abide by are neither optional, nor are they aspirational best practices. Rather, they’re foundational to audit quality and investor protection, and every audit firm that conducts audits for issuers with securities trading on U.S. exchanges must meet them. Here, Deloitte-China audit professionals fell woefully short,” he said.

The order also finds that Deloitte China failed to adhere to numerous PCAOB auditing standards, including due professional care of audit evidence, sampling, documentation, internal control over financial reporting, audit supervision, and quality control. Though at this point that’s like giving someone a ticket for not wearing a seat belt after they drive their car off a cliff, of course PCAOB auditing standards were ignored.

In addition to the financial penalty, the order censures Deloitte China and requires the firm to provide copies of “Auditing For Dummies” to all junior and senior staff. Kidding, the firm will complete a review and assessment of its policies and procedures by an independent consultant retained by Deloitte Global. The order further requires Deloitte China to implement a plan to address deficiencies identified by the independent consultant that is approved and overseen by Deloitte Global, and to subsequently undergo several additional annual reviews. The order also requires Deloitte China to require additional training over three years for all of its audit professionals who serve U.S. public company audit clients.

The post The Talent Shortage Has Gotten So Bad Clients Are Now Doing Their Own Audit Documentation appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte’s listing comes with some info on how many women work for Deloitte and how many are in management positions which we will conveniently share in this copy-pasted table below:

The post According to This List, Deloitte is the Best Big 4 Firm For Women appeared first on Going Concern.

This newest class is a biggun compared to others in recent years—Deloitte admitted 169 new partners and principals for FY 2022, 125 for FY 2021, and 150 for FY 2020.

Want more numbers? OK, here are some more numbers:

• 138: The number of new partners and principals who work at Deloitte Consulting, followed by 81 who work at Deloitte & Touche, 49 who work for Deloitte Tax, eight who work at Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics, and three who work at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services.
• 110: The number of new partners and principals who are women, or 39.4% of the class.
• 33: The number of new partners and principals who work in New York City, the most of any office location, followed by Chicago (29), Arlington, VA (25), Atlanta (17), and Los Angeles (16).

Alright, enough of the numbers. Here are a lot of names:

Partners

• Agbunag, Kristina New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Ahl, Chris Seattle, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Albee, Sean Seattle, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Aven, Joseph Houston, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Banks, Brian New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Barry, Kenton Seattle, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Bedotto, Anthony Remo San Jose, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Bedunah, Scott Dallas, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Bell, Jason Dallas, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Boen, Kacie San Diego, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Bogard, Brandon Stamford, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Boyanzhu, Konstantin San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Braser, Alex Boston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Brinegar, Ryan Cincinnati, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Brynaert, Christine Chicago, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Bulgrin, Brian Milwaukee, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Burns, Ellen Jericho, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP
• Cottrell, Ryan Matthew Raleigh, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Curry, Ed Detroit, Deloitte Tax LLP
• David, Matt Los Angeles, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Davis, Sundee Las Vegas, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Decker, Kris Indianapolis, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Dodson, Steven Dallas, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Dougherty, Kevin San Francisco, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Drudy, Greg Morristown, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Emrick, Brian Boston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Evans, Laura Houston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Ferlianto, Susan Atlanta, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Fennerty, Kelsey Anne Seattle, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Flori King, Megan Denver, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Fore, Bill Jericho, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Georgiou, Kelly San Jose, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Gibb, Jason Detroit, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Galvan, Lindsay Philadelphia, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Gizatullin, Megan Gamila San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Glen, Sara Seattle, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Glynn, Katie Costa Mesa, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Goldsmith, Talita Furtado Dallas, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Gray, Shenique Vera McLean, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Green, Fanny Seattle, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Greenman, Scott Atlanta, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Grisoni, Jaimee Phoenix, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Gritton, Jason Matthew Denver, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Guska, Bill Chicago, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Hamby, Holly Houston, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Hester, Chris Houston, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Hill, Alyson Tampa, Deloitte Tax LLP   20
• Hocking, Brad Charlotte, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Hurley, Matt Nashville, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Hurwitch, Jeremy Miami, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Jenkins, Brian Chicago, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Jermyn, Scarlett Tampa, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Jiang, Neville Washington, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Johnson, Ian Omaha, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Kleinert, Adam Los Angeles, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Kendrick, Lindsey Stamford, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Kort, Krystle Detroit, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Lewis, Marla Stamford, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Logan, Kerri New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Lorenzato, Allen Alesio Austin, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Loyd, Brianne Getgen San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Lumpkins, Kyle Houston, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Maneri, Joe Jericho, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Marseglia, Michelle Boston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Massey, Brendon New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• McKee, John Philadelphia, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Meehan, Steph San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Meier, Gina Marie Denver, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Mercado, Celerino San Jose, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Miller, Hogan Houston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Misner, Tricia Chicago, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Miura, Kristyn Los Angeles, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Muraoka, Kinjun New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Myers, Danielle McLean, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Nambiar, Amrita Costa Mesa, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Okorafor, Eji New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Oldaker, Brandon David Chicago, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Onizuka, Aimee Gustafson Costa Mesa, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Ozer, Stefan Charlotte, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Paszt, Laura Cleveland, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Pearson, Laura Minneapolis, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Peters, Ashley Atlanta, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Pumpalova, Magdalena McLean, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Rizwan, Yawar Detroit, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Rodriguez, Pete Costa Mesa, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Rogliano, Eugene New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Rubenis, Andra San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Samtani, Anil San Jose, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Schroeder, Shannon Phoenix, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Schulte, Brad Morristown, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Seremak, Jeff Charlotte, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Shah, Dan New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Shea, Megan New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Simpson, Lindsey Mallory Minneapolis, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Smith, Kari Los Angeles, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Stanley, Jonathan Dallas, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Stephens, Zach Cleveland, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Stewart, Scott Andrew New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Taylor, Jenna Noelle San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Taylor, Melissa Davenport, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Tilner, Matt New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Trivella, Andrew Thomas San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• van Heerden, Hannah New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Van Laan, Ben Chicago, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Vanderloop, Brenna Minneapolis, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Voskuhl, Liz Cleveland, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Zheng, Nickolas Boston, Deloitte Tax LLP

Principals

• Adib, Naj Stamford, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Ahmed, Asif Farah New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Alevoor, Raghavan Austin, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Anderson, Jessica Marie Hermitage, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Andrews, Carla Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Apple, Keith Washington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ashfaq, Shehzad Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Atkins, Paul New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Bajpai, Rahul Tampa, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Balasubramanian, Bharane Austin, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Barish, Brian Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Baroni, Roland Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Bernard, Korynne San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Bhandarkar, Mike Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Blamire, Aurelia New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Bolgren, Daniel Houston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Byrne, Kevin Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Caccavale, Matt Arlington, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Canady, Sara Oropesa Charlotte, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Cappoli, Kirstin Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Caram, Casey San Francisco, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Chawla, Noor Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Chebrolu, Kumar Dallas, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Cluver, Megan New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Cole, Jordan New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Cowell, Nick New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Cuffari, Alison Austin, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Dawson, Ian Chicago, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Delbridge, Jim Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Denlinger, Katie Cincinnati, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Desai, Chai Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Devine, Matt Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Dhasmana, Garima Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Dondarski, Kevin Morristown, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Donnelly-Staerk, Theresa Philadelphia, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Dost, Greg McLean, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Doulamis, Giannis New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Duffy, Ken San Diego, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Duggal, Rakesh New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Elegbe, Wale McLean, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Elligers, Julia Joh Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Elliott, Ben Sacramento, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Elliott, Christie Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Emami, Borna Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Faizy, Waleed Costa Mesa, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Fertig, Michelle New York, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Fetscher, Ruthie Jessica Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Filantres, Jason Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Fink, Kalyn Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Fleurimond, Betty Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Forrest, Kyle Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Franck, Jessica Ann Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gallagher, Kevin Stamford, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gaputis, Drew Markuns Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gasper, Jayson Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• George, Reebu Philadelphia, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Gilbert, Chris Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gill, Harpreet Kaur Dallas, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gilliam, Duncan Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Goff, Brian Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gopalakrishnan, Sri Princeton, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Grohmann, Johannes San Francisco, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gross, Maggie Stamford, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Gulati, Deepak Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Haaf, Tim Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Hagan, Heather Philadelphia, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Halas, Mike Washington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Harris, Amanda Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Harwood, Kat Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Haskell, Andrea Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Hebbar, Srihari Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Heim, Mike Morristown, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Henry, Thomas Bryant Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Hoffmeister, Ryan Tampa, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Hollander, Matthew New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Hrushka, Julie Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Irvin, Jill Cornelius Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Isaac, Semehar Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Jain, Mohit Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Janho, Reem Miami ,Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Jankowski, Liz Boston, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Jenkins, Derrick Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Jha, Anand San Francisco, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Joiner, Michael Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Josephson, Matt Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Kagan, Marc Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Kang, Christine Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Kang, Jason Chicago, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Khan, Saadat McLean, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Khan, Sajid Dallas, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Kline, Kristi Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Konno, Kazuki Atlanta, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Kossally, Cynthia Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Krishnamoorthy, Karthik Hartford, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Landrum, Greg Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Larson, Brittany McLean, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Leggette, Kim Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ma, Kevin Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Machalani, Michele New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Machhar, Hardik Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Manthie, Steve Minneapolis, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Marquez, Maria San Francisco, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Marzin, Kenneth Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Mathew, Subit Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• McClure, Chad Michael Stamford, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• McDonald, Katie Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• McLemore, Nichelle Houston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Mehta, Nirav Morristown, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Meynen, Paul Chicago, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Mohapatra, Soumendra Morristown, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Moretti, Adam Philadelphia, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Morgan, Blair McLean, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Muthu, Siva Sacramento, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Narayanan, Ranjani Boston, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Neff, Deborah Denver, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Nicholson, Tara Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ninio, Ben New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ortiz, Dennis Michael New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Pant, Nick Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Pareek, Mia New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Patel, Swati Suresh Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Pavalon, Joe Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Peters, Sophia Cristina Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Podhorecki, Philippe Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Popowich, Amina Arlington, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP
• Radhakrishnan, Ajay Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Radia, Anand Houston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Rahimzadegan, Bobby Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ramakrishnan, Deepak Princeton, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Ramamurthy, Sri New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Raymond, Lacey Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Roop, Libby Kanouse Detroit, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Roychowdhury, Nikhil New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Ryan, Sean Miami, Deloitte Tax LLP
• Saini, Shalin New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Salah-Ud-Din, Fahad Detroit, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Sanwardeker, Roopa Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Scott, Katie Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Scott, Steven Pittsburgh, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Sedler, Alex New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Shah, Tanay Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Shan, Hui Hartford, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Sharma, Deblina Indianapolis, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Sharma, Rajat San Francisco, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Sherman, Courtney New York, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Shome, Anupam Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Shukla, Kartik Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Singh, Amit Kumar Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Singh, Charan Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Singh, Jagjeet Austin, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Sinha, Shruti New York, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Sipes, Michele Arlington, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Starks, Chris Cincinnati, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Surel, Hasim Miami, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Syslo (Like), Jessica Los Angeles, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Tate, Bradley Atlanta, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Thompson, Ian Boston, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Tiwari, Durgesh Dallas, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Tonini, Pamela Costa Mesa, Deloitte & Touche LLP
• Tumkur, Aditya Atlanta, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Vanderpool, David Minneapolis, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Vert, Greg Columbus, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Vesey, Jessica Arlington, Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP
• Wadhawan, Anshul Charlotte, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Wanner, Jillian Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Weber, Jon Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Whiting, Adam Seattle, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Whitmore, Atresha Karra Arlington, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Wijekoon, Yomal Suravinda Los Angeles, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Young, Spencer Chicago, Deloitte Consulting LLP
• Zarate, Alfie Arlington, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP
• Zhu, Cynthia New York, Deloitte Tax LLP

Congrats to the newest rainmakers at the House of Ucuzoglu!

The post Promotion Watch ’22: Deloitte Admits 279 New Partners and Principals appeared first on Going Concern.

From Vatican News:

The Pope thanked them for their visit and work, before turning his attention to the numerous challenges plaguing the world, and suggesting three ways they can promote a more humane, just, and fraternal world.

His first suggestion “is always to remain aware that you can leave a mark.” Obviously the hope here is that the mark these consultants’ leave is one of integrity and positivity. “You are well aware of your ‘power,’” he said. “This should be accompanied constantly by the desire to direct your analysis and proposals towards choices consistent with the paradigm of integral ecology.”

The second was for them “to take up and fulfill your cultural responsibility, which also stems from your wealth of intelligence and connections.”

And the third: enhance diversity. The Vatican News piece did not expand further on this point. “Enhance diversity” is an obvious directive, I guess.

The pope went on to talk about how the world has experienced severe and continuing crises, pretty much back-to-back without much resolution between. “We had not finished dealing with the financial crisis of 2007 before we had to face the crisis of sovereign debt and of real economies, followed by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine with all its global consequences and threats,” he said.

He then piled on the guilt and reminded the consultants that at the end of the day, there’s nothing noble about what they do. OK maybe his comments weren’t that harsh, but he did highlight inequities around the globe and the part professional services firms and their clients might play in that:

While daily life improved for one part of humanity, he noted, the other part has suffered from “unscrupulous choices” and “has become the main victim of a sort of counter-development.”

“What can professional consultants do in this difficult and uncertain situation? They can do a great deal by organizing their analyses and proposals with an integral perspective and vision.”

“Today’s consultants, aware of their role, are called to propose and discuss new directions for new challenges.”

He noted they should adopt and propose policies that also promote quality of life globally, and put first the integral wellbeing of the entire person and of every person.

“No profit is in fact legitimate when it falls short of the objective of the integral promotion of the human person, the universal destination of goods, the preferential option for the poor, and, we can add, the care of our common home,” he said.

After a few more remarks he concluded by thanking them for the meeting, expressed good wishes for their work, and blessed them, their families, especially their children, the sick, and the elderly. Then he dropped the mic and dipped out. I made that last part up but it would have been appropriate after that savage monologue let’s be real.

Related: Another Year, Another Revenue Record For Deloitte in 2022

The post The Pope (Yes, That Pope) Has a Message for Deloitte: People Over Profits appeared first on Going Concern.

The Green Dot pulled in $59.3 billion in revenue for the financial year ending May 31, an 18.1% increase over 2021’s haul of $50.2 billion. This puts a decent-sized buffer between Deloitte—the biggest accounting firm in the world in terms of revenue—and second place PwC. In an interview with the Financial Times in July, PwC Global CEO Bob Mortiz said the firm’s global revenue for its most recent fiscal year would be close to $50 billion, up from $45.1 billion in 2021.

Let’s take a look at Deloitte’s 2022 by the numbers:

• $30.7 billion: The amount of revenue brought in by the Americas region, the largest of the three covered by Deloitte and a 22.1% increase over last year. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa region was next with $18.8 billion, followed by Asia Pacific with $10 billion.
• $25.8 billion: The amount of revenue brought in by consulting, the most of any of Deloitte’s businesses, followed by audit and assurance with $11.4 billion, tax and legal with $9.9 billion, risk advisory with $7 billion, and financial advisory with $5.3 billion.
• $16.1 billion: The amount of revenue for financial services, the most of any industry served by Deloitte, followed by consumer with $11.9 billion; government and public services with $10 billion; energy, resources, and industrials with $8.6 billion; technology, media, and telecom with $7.5 billion; and life sciences and health care with $5.3 billion.
• 411,951: Number of Green Dotters around the world at the close of FY 2022.
• 156,430: Number of new Deloitters hired worldwide in 2022.
• 55%: Percentage of male employees; 45% of employees are women.
• 25%: Percentage of female employees who are partners, principals, and managing directors. Deloitte set a goal of 30% by 2025.

The next contestant in the annual Big 4 dick-measuring contest will either be PwC or EY—both firms officially announce their revenue results in September. During a global all-hands employee call in July, EY Global CEO Carmine Di Sibio told his troops that the firm brought in $45.4 billion during its most recent fiscal year that ended on June 30. That’s a 13.6% increase over last year’s $39.95 billion.

KPMG will announce its 2022 global revenue in December.

The post Another Year, Another Revenue Record For Deloitte in 2022 appeared first on Going Concern.

That polar bear’s name? Albert Einstein.

Related articles:
We Get It Lady, You Work For Deloitte
What’s Up With Deloitters and the LinkedIn Cult Mentality?
Everyone Knows 11-Year-Olds Can’t Wait to Work at Deloitte

The post Deloitte is Out Here Being Cringey on LinkedIn Again appeared first on Going Concern.

From Domain Name Wire:

A cryptocurrency company has successfully defended its domain name in a cybersquatting case brought by Deloitte Tax & Consulting.

Deloitte offers a Know Your Customer service branded as DKYC.

Penultimate Media Systems registered DontKYC.com for the opposite use: cryptocurrency services that promise anonymity.

Deloitte seemed to be upset that the domain owner abbreviated its service as DKYC on its website.

World Intellectual Property Organization Panelist Adam Taylor determined that Deloitte failed to show that the domain owner registered and used the domain in bad faith. The domain owner said it wasn’t aware of Deloitte’s trademark and was not targeting them. This makes sense, given its use of the domain name.

Deloitte contends a few things in the complaint:

• The Complainant’s group is internationally well-known.
• The Complainant exploits the DKYC trade mark widely.
• The disputed domain name is highly similar to the Complainant’s trade mark as it includes the four letters in the Complainant’s mark in the same order.

So basically the argument is they just should have known that Deloitte Know Your Customer exists and picked a different acronym for decentralized finance and anonymous spending. Which they are. A message at the top of the DontKYC.com site says they are rebranding to Shadow Fi.

The full WIPO complaint is embedded below for your reading pleasure.

Deloitte DYKC by Adrienne Gonzalez on Scribd

The post Deloitte Just Lost a Quiet Cybersquatting Dispute With a Privacy-Focused Crypto Company appeared first on Going Concern.

Here’s the TikTok that inspired such dramatics:

@gowokegobrokeaus Tell me how it makes sense #big4 #deloitte #fyp #graduate #work #commentator #corporatelife #corporate ♬ original sound – Go Woke Go Broke

“So graduates apparently earn around $65,000 a year which is a fine graduate salary for a normal job but working at a big four consulting firm is not a normal job. They demand to basically devote your life to them,” she says. “They make their graduates work 12-14 hours a day and they’re paying them what, $65,000? It’s an absolute joke. It’s modern day slavery. They bill these graduates out at $200, $300 an hour and how much do they pay them, $20 an hour? Tell me, how it makes sense? This is why I hate big business and why people are flocking away from large corporations in record numbers because they’ve realize they are getting absolutely rorted.”

Maybe it’s because I’m old (or American?) but I had to look ‘rorted‘ up. No shame.

Ah, I get it.

As of publication, there are more than 2000 comments on her original TikTok.

The post Word Hits TikTok That Big 4 Firms Are Cheap Bastards, “It’s Modern Day Slavery” appeared first on Going Concern.

Thanks for doing your part to feed the pipeline, ma’am.

The post Everyone Knows 11-Year-Olds Can’t Wait to Work at Deloitte appeared first on Going Concern.

Deloitte Australia chief executive Adam Powick has revealed the minimum pay rates for the firm’s audit and consulting divisions as part of a strategy to be more transparent with staff and attract more skilled professionals.

In consulting, the minimum pay rates for Deloitte will start at $67,000 (US$46.3k) for graduates in 2023, $75,000 for a consultant, $125,000 for a manager, $190,000 for a director and $220,000 for a principal.

Directors and principals are also in line to earn “contractual bonuses” typically worth between 10 and 20 per cent of their annual pay. Principals are senior staff members who are specialists in their area.

“We believe that openness and transparency are key to building the trust of our people and also of our profession externally,” said Powick.

PwC and KPMG have also provided salary data while EY has chosen not to though they did provide some limited salary data internally. That salary data then ended up in AFR’s hands anyway which resulted in a former EY partner saying the rates were “disturbingly low.” Overly critical ex-partners aside, recruiters told AFR they believed EY’s rates were competitive and generally above market.

Here’s the full table of Deloitte Australia salaries put together by AFR:

Source: Financial Review

Powick told AFR that this kind of transparency “helps drive more equitable outcomes and is an important factor in addressing challenges like gender pay equity.” Deloitte’s overall gender pay gap was 12.6% at the end of last year. The gap differed by division, with a 2.2% gap in assurance and advisory and a 15.9% gap in consulting.

Deloitte reveals minimum pay rates (managers start at $125,000) [Australian Financial Review]

The post Here’s How Much Auditors and Consultants at Deloitte Australia Make appeared first on Going Concern.

Los Angeles County’s nonprofit “211LA” hotline to health, human and social services is on the verge of being turned over to a private company, pending a vote by the county’s Board of Supervisors.

The supervisors are slated to vote Tuesday on whether or not to transfer control of the phone service to Deloitte Consulting, which would get a seven-year, $67.25 million contract to run it. The deal would also include an additional $20 million to help pay for the transfer from its current management.

Current employees of 211LA staged a rally outside the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration this week, urging supervisors “to shoot down the plan to have a for-profit company run the system.” A for-profit company with a terrible track record of managing public services.

Individuals in Florida and California who found themselves out of a job during the early months of the pandemic have nothing good to say about Deloitte’s handling of their states’ unemployment systems. Deloitte earned up to $55 million for running California’s unemployment call center; the department failed to answer over 73 million calls to its call centers at the peak of pandemic unemployment. Further south, Deloitte denies issues with Florida’s unemployment system — which they built prior to the pandemic — are their fault.

They also denied key findings in a state inspector general report released last week. The report found that on the date before CONNECT went live in October 2013, the system had 14 “fatal” defects, although the state’s contract with the company allowed for none. The Deloitte executives said Monday that it wasn’t true, and that there was a “misinterpretation” of internal documents.

“By my professional opinion, those were not fatal defects. Those were cosmetic,” said Deloitte principal Scott Malm at a March 2021 hearing regarding the meltdown of Florida’s unemployment system.

Back to LA:

“We’re part of the safety net,” said 211LA’s Executive Director Maribel Marin. “You can’t just replace us like you replace a regular vendor. We are not a regular vendor. We are part of this community.”

211LA has been serving county residents for the past 41 years, providing telephone-based information on local programs that span from pandemic assistance, to food resources, to how to safely surrender a baby. Supporters say contracting out to a private company will create a less-efficient service.

“This is a wholesale displacement of a trusted and integrated safety-net provider in favor of the false promise of big tech doing it better and cheaper,” said Marin.

The board of supervisors said in a statement a reassessment of the 211LA service was “overdue” and that an outside consultant concluded that the county was using “20th century technology to address 21st century social challenges.”

The supervisors add that complaints about automation problems are pure misinformation, adding that the Deloitte contract will hire more live agents than are currently employed, reduce the waiting time for callers and offer digital options for people who prefer that mode. reassessment of the 211LA service was “overdue,” and that an outside consultant concluded that the county was using “20th century technology to address 21st century social challenges.”

The supervisors add that complaints about automation problems are pure misinformation, adding that the Deloitte contract will hire more live agents than are currently employed, reduce the waiting time for callers and offer digital options for people who prefer that mode.

Ah, “misinformation.” Where have we seen that before…

The post Los Angeles Might Outsource Its 211 Phone Service to Deloitte and People Are Not Happy appeared first on Going Concern.

The Dallas Morning News reported on July 26:

Commissioners unanimously approved a 10-year deal that could save the company up to $5.1 million in taxes. The company plans to add to its existing 700,000-square-foot Deloitte University campus with additional amenities such as a fitness center, innovation and learning facilities and more guest rooms.

“We certainly appreciate the great corporate citizen that Deloitte has been in our area,” said commissioner Gary Fickes.

The expansion will add eight buildings across at least 300,000 square feet. Twenty-five full-time jobs with average salaries of $90,000 also will be created when the company expands across its recently purchased 225 acres.

Deloitte cannot receive more than a 75% tax abatement during a single year. The rate starts at 55%, as long as Deloitte hits a minimum of $300 million in its capital investment, keeps all existing jobs and creates the 25 jobs. Increased spending and more jobs can increase the tax break percentage.

The project is expected to begin in 2023 and will be completed in at least two phases before Jan. 1, 2029, according to the Dallas Morning News.

[Original article posted on July 21.]

Deloitte University, known more for its delicious brisket and hash brown cheese casserole served in the facility’s cafeteria than its intended purpose of training Green Dot younglings, might be expanding its campus in Westlake, TX, depending on how local government officials vote on the proposed expansion.

From the Dallas Morning News:

Deloitte University, the consulting firm’s showplace training center and hotel in Westlake, Texas, could soon undergo a $100 million expansion.

Tarrant County commissioners next week will consider a new tax abatement proposal for an addition to the more than 700,000-square-foot facility.

Deloitte’s expansion plan includes a 2030 sustainability plan of achieving net-zero emissions. It also projects 25 new jobs with an average salary of $90,000, according to Dallas Morning News.

You knew Deloitte couldn’t stand having a training facility smaller than KPMG’s.

The post Deloitte’s Prized Playground Might Be Getting An Upgrade (UPDATE) appeared first on Going Concern.

The Colosseum contributes 1.4 billion euros per year to the Italian economy (in terms of contribution to GDP) as a tourist-cultural attraction and has a social value of approximately 77 billion euros (US$78 billion). It represents not only the most famous symbol of Rome and the most visited monument in our country but an icon of global interest. In 2019 alone, over 7 million people from all over the world visited the Colosseum. Its value is not only economic but above all social.

“The Colosseum is a significant source of value for Rome, Italy and for humanity,” said Marco Vulpiani, Partner and head of the Valuation, Modeling & Economic Advisory for ​​Deloitte Central Mediterranean (member firms of Italy, Greece and Malta). “It is clear that since it is a non-alienable asset, we are talking about a non-transferable value, even if it exists and is significant.” The study “The value of an Iconic Asset. The economic and social value of the Colosseum” was conducted by the Italian Economic Advisory team, specialized in economic-social value and impact analysis.

To quantify a historical icon like the Colosseum, Deloitte analyzed and quantified various values: its contribution to the Italian economy from operations and tourism, the indirect use value (the “hedonic” value represented by the pleasure of the mere proximity and view of a unique and magnificent iconic work) and the social value of Colosseum, intended primarily as the value that its existence represents for society. “For an iconic asset like the Colosseum it is necessary to refer to a dimension of value that includes both material and immaterial value. In this sense, the intangible value of the Colosseum can be greater than the value associated with the economic benefits it can produce. In fact, the advantages external to the market economy must also be taken into consideration,” the report said.

“In evaluating such an important iconic asset of the world cultural heritage, one cannot limit oneself to considering only the financial benefits that this can produce, but also the value connected to the importance that society recognizes in the existence of the asset,” it says.

One figure taken into account was the community’s so-called “Willingness to Pay.” The firm conducted a survey to find out how important preserving the Colosseum is to Italians. 97 percent of those surveyed considered its existence very important or important. 87 percent believe the Colosseum represents Italy’s most important cultural attraction; 92 percent agree that the Colosseum must be preserved. More than half of respondents consider the Colosseum as the main factor in the decision to visit Rome. Finally, about 30 percent of respondents believe that only Italians should pay for the conservation of the Colosseum while the remaining 70 percent think visitors and everyone in the world should contribute to the preservation of the Colosseum, confirming the globally recognized value of this iconic asset.

Through the Contingent Valuation Method, which is based on the Willingness To Pay detected by the survey conducted, an existence value of 75.7 billion euros was estimated, which added to the value connected to the revenues generated by it (the so-called economic value of transaction) of 1.1 billion euros, leading to a total value of the Colosseum as a social asset of 76.8 billion euros.

The value of an Iconic Asset. The economic and social value of the Colosseum [Deloitte]

The post Deloitte Has Calculated the Tangible and Intangible Value of the Roman Colosseum Because of Course They Did appeared first on Going Concern.

We’re excited to share that @deloitte is getting another #puppywithapurpose – deepening our commitment to #veterans and their families. Before our puppy officially joins – he needs a name!

Naming contest is open until July 29 — submit yours: https://t.co/UmHyZY4BMF pic.twitter.com/q6aFSao3Dk

— Life at Deloitte US (@lifeatdeloitte) July 26, 2022

The firm is sponsoring the service dog in training through the America’s VetDogs Puppy With A Purpose Corporate puppy raising program. The puppy will live with US Cyber & Strategic Risk leader Deb Golden full time for 12-14 months, during which time he will learn the initial skills necessary to become a full time service dog. Then the puppy will continue his formal guide or service dog training (3-6 months) with a certified instructor from America’s VetDogs, and will be matched with a person who is visually impaired or with a disabled veteran.

This is Benny, Deloitte’s first corporate pup.

Well, that was Benny. This is Benny now.

 

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via @bennyservicepup

No shade, this is wonderful. Deloitte is soliciting name suggestions for their next service pup here, you’ll note the form asks for your email if you work for Deloitte so, you know, keep those suggestions SFW.

The post Deloitte Is Getting a Service Doggo! appeared first on Going Concern.

In the 2020/21 public report, we concluded that the firm had made progress on actions to address our previous findings and made improvements in relation to its audit execution and firm-wide procedures.

The firm has continued to show improvement, with an increase in the number of audits we assessed as requiring no more than limited improvements to 82% compared with 79% in the previous year and 80% on average over the past five years. It is also encouraging that none of the audits we inspected were found to require significant improvements.

The area which contributed most to the audits requiring improvement was the audit of estimates of certain provisions. There were also key findings in relation to group audits, the review and challenge by the Engagement Quality Control Review (EQCR) partner and the application of the FRC Ethical Standard. However, in contrast to the prior year, most of the audits requiring improvement arose in non-FTSE 350 audits, with stronger results for the FTSE 350 audits.

Because of these improved inspection results, the FRC will reduce the number of audits inspected at Deloitte in proportion to the number of audits in scope, compared with other Tier 1 firms (the seven Tier 1 firms are BDO LLP, Deloitte LLP, Ernst & Young LLP, Grant Thornton UK LLP, KPMG LLP, Mazars LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP).

This time around 17 of the 348 audits in FRC scope were inspected.

Including that audit fee income slide just because.

The audits inspected in the 2021/22 cycle included above had year ends ranging from June 2020 to March 2021.

The FRC recognizes Deloitte’s efforts to improve its audit team communications and procedures:

The firm has continued to communicate the importance of audit quality and continuous improvement and shares emerging issues and good practices on a real time basis. There has been increased communications involving audit teams sharing their experiences with the wider audit practice, often through webcasts. This reinforces audit quality messages and can make them more relatable.

The firm has recognised that there is a need for a central team with clearly defined and dedicated responsibility for identifying and implementing an appropriate response to consistent and recurring findings (our 2020/21 public report, noted that more effective responses for findings that continued to recur was needed).

Deloitte is of course pleased with the FRC’s assessments. From the firm’s inspection report response:

We are proud of our people’s commitment to delivering high quality audits and we continue to have an uncompromising focus on audit quality. We are pleased that both the overall and FTSE 350 inspection results for our audits selected by the FRC as part of the 2021/22 inspection cycle show an improvement. This reflects our ongoing focus on audit quality, and we will maintain our emphasis on continuous improvement as we seek to further enhance quality.

The response also includes actions Deloitte will undertake to ensure continued improvement; Deloitte will establish a Continuous Improvement Group (CIG) led by a senior audit partner “to review and challenge the response to the identified root causes of the findings from the FRC 2021/22 inspection cycle.”

And some more audit quality acronyms:

In response to the FRC’s observations, we are also forming an Actions Development Group (ADG), comprising workstream leaders from across the business, which will formalise our existing processes and ensure consideration across functions around the development of actions which
then flow into the Audit Quality Plan. These actions and the Audit Quality Plan will be reviewed and challenged by the CIG to ensure that actions are designed effectively and promote consistent audit execution. We have also enhanced our causal factor taxonomy which will be released over summer 2022 effective for the 2023 inspection cycle, in response to the FRC observations. Our robust root cause analysis (RCA) process together with the establishment of the CIG and ADG will enable us to address recurring findings in a more effective manner.

Overall good news for Deloitte UK. The firm has seen similar improvement on our side of the Atlantic; of 53 Deloitte audits inspected by the PCAOB in 2020, only two had significant deficiencies. High fives all around.

The post UK Audit Watchdog Says Deloitte Is Doing Some Good Auditing Across the Pond appeared first on Going Concern.